There are 1 Million people in United States suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and nearly 50,000 people are diagnosed with it every year. Mostly people above the age of 50 are prone to this disease. Untill now there has not been a cure for this disease. But latest research (dated November 4,2009) conducted at Iowa State University has lead to the discovery of vital information which can enable the possible cure for the Parkinson’s disease in the near future. This article tries to gain further insight.

Dr. Anumantha Kanthasamy, a distinguished professor of biomedical Sciences at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine has been working on this disease for more than a decade. His research revealed why this disease happens. Further research will lead to a cure available for Parkinson’s Disease in the coming 10 years.

Knowledge Gained from the research:

• Parkinson’s Disease is caused when a substance called Dopamine is not produced in the brain.
• It is enough if the dopamine level in the body is around 40-50 percent if not 100 percent, for carrying out the normal functions of the body.
• Normal aging naturally causes less production of this substance. But apart from this reason, when the level of Dopamine in the brain falls below 60 to 70 percent, a person gets Parkinson’s Disease.
• Nearly 10,000 cells, responsible for producing dopamine, get killed inside the brain of a Parkinson’s Disease patient. The reasons were unknown till now.
• Research done by Dr.Kanthasamy revealed that a substance Protein Kinase-C is responsible for killing the cells which can produce dopamine.
• The research team of Dr.Kanthasamy developed a compound that successfully killed the Protein Kinase-C, saving the dopamine producing cells in the brain.
• Cells are the building blocks of our body. Every function in a living cell is carried out by the proteins.
• The proteins are the chemical molecules, continuously produced by the cells. But sometimes these proteins can cause death of the cells too.

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