Hi, how ya doing? Remember me? I’m the guy who used to run this blog. Over the last few weeks, I have seriously considered downgrading this blog to a status of Post Mortem. But then I found out about some recent breakthroughs in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease (PD)! Would you like to know more?

Before I get started, here’s a little background info in case any of you didn’t already know it. PD happens when the patient’s brain cells stop producing dopamine. Y’see, dopamine is generated by certain groups of brain cells. What appears to happen in PD patients is that those particular brain cells become clogged with a mis-folded protein called alphasynuclein. In recent years, medical researchers have come up with a variety of approaches to confront this problem. The breakthroughs I’ve been looking into represent two very different approaches.

Approach Number One: Insert New Brain Cells

For many years, folks have held onto hope that stem cells will be the source of salvation for all manner of diseases. Most of the stem cell research I’ve seen for PD seem to involve injecting stem cells into the patient, then just hoping the stem cells establish themselves in the correct area of the brain.

Now, a Japanese company has taken it a step further. Rather than puttin’ stem cells into ya, they keep the stem cells in a lab, and induce them to become brain cells (neurons). Then, they take it still another step. Rather than just injecting cells and hoping they latch on in the correct places, these people actually connect both ends of each neuron, threading their way around your existing neurons in the process.

And the best part: They’re already doing this! The Japanese government has approved the procedure and Japanese PD patients are already seeing the benefits of this treatment.

And the worst part: The price tag is over $300,000. No, not yen! It’s a third of a million United States Dollars!

Approach Number Two: Flush Out the Bad

Did you know that changing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air you breathe causes a corresponding change in the level of your interstitial brain fluid? The medical industry knew it. For years, they have been using carbon dioxide levels to control brain swelling in head injuries. Now they’ve learned that, if you cyclically increase and decrease carbon dioxide levels, it results in waves of brain fluid that will actually flush the problematic alphasynuclein molecules out of the afflicted brain cells.

And the best part: This approach requires no drugs and no surgical procedures! Just a device that should be somewhat similar to a CPAP machine.

And the worst part: Well…there is no worst part. The only downside I could see to this approach was that it may be a while before it becomes available. The development team (comprised of private industry and the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs) hopes to have a prototype device by the end of 2026. Then it will be up to the FDA.

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Would you like to know more?

Click here to learn more about Approach Number One.

Click here to learn more about Approach Number Two.

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Please note: I am a Mister and I am a Sir. I am not a Doctor.