A new mouse study led by Scripps Research Institute may have discovered a key cause of dyskinesia — a debilitating movement disorder often caused by the dopamine-replacement drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
Dopamine replacement therapy makes Parkinson’s symptoms much better at first, but eventually treatment gives way to uncontrollable, jerky body movements.
Until now, the mechanism behind this condition has largely remained a mystery. The study shows that underlying this condition is the medication’s unintended boost of a protein called RasGRP1 (Ras-guanine nucleotide-releasing factor 1).
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