Reuter's Health: Boosting sonic hedgehog signaling
UC neuroscientist and Parkinson’s expert weighs in on new study
Alberto Espay, director and endowed chair, Gardner Family Center for Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders at the University of Cincinnati, gave Reuter's Health his opinion on a new study of Parkinson’s disease.
The study, an animal model, looks at whether increasing sonic hedgehog protein signaling decreases the involuntary movements associated with L-dopa-induced dyskinesia (LID). LID is a side effect of dopamine replacement therapy, leading to involuntary movements in the limbs, face and torso of Parkinson's patients. The research comes out of the CUNY School of Medicine and the Graduate Center in New York City.
Espay called the study "intriguing preclinical work" that could open "a novel avenue of investigation into LID."
Featured image at top: Alberto Espay/UC Creative + Brand
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