Researchers in Montr\u00e9al led by Jacques Drouin, D.Sc., uncovered a mechanism regulating dopamine levels in the brain by working on a mouse model of late onset Parkinson\u2019s disease. The study was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Rory A. Fisher from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.<\/p>\n
Using gene expression profiling, a method to measure the activity of thousands of genes, researchers investigated dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain, which are nerve cells that use dopamine to send signals to other nerve cells. These neurons are known to degenerate in Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe identified the Rgs6 gene for its restricted expression in dopaminergic neurons,\u201d explains Dr. Drouin, Director of the Molecular Genetics laboratory at the IRCM. \u201cWe had previously shown that this gene is itself controlled by a transcription factor called Pitx3, which plays an important role in the survival of these neurons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough our study, we discovered that a defective Rgs6 gene causes the death of these neurons,\u201d adds Dr. Drouin. \u201cMore specifically, we found that when we remove the Rgs6 gene, this relieves a brake against excessive dopaminergic signalling. As a result, excess free dopamine accumulation causes cellular stress, which, in turn, causes the neurons to die. Our work thus indicates that Rgs6 could be a new target for the development of drugs against Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Parkinson Society Canada, nearly 100,000 Canadians have Parkinson\u2019s disease. This progressive neurodegenerative disease primarily affects voluntary, controlled movement. It results from the loss of cells responsible for producing dopamine, which acts as a messenger between brain cells that control the body\u2019s movements.\nUniversity of Iowa Carver College of Medicine<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers in Montr\u00e9al led by Jacques Drouin, D.Sc., uncovered a mechanism regulating dopamine levels in the brain by working on a mouse model of late onset Parkinson\u2019s disease. The study was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Rory A. Fisher from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Using gene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}