Brain disorder suggests common mechanism may underlie many neurodegenerative diseases
Monday, January 12, 2009 - 16:56
in Health & Medicine
A Mayo Clinic-led international consortium has found a mechanism that may help explain Parkinson's and other neurological disorders. Studying just eight families worldwide, the international team of researchers have discovered a genetic defect that results in profound depression and parkinsonism in a disorder known as Perry syndrome. Although this syndrome is exceedingly rare, the mechanism implicated in it may help explain the origins of a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diseases, and even common depression and sleep disorders that are also hallmarks of the disorder, the researchers say...