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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2007;298:731.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 129 words of the full text and any section headings.

A newly identified protein, conserved dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF), protects and even rescues damaged dopamine-producing neurons in a rat experimental model of Parkinson disease, according to Finnish researchers (Lindholm P et al. Nature. 2007;448[7149]:73-77).

In this model, a neurotoxin that targets dopamine neurons is injected into the striatum on one side of the animal's brain, which results in a circling behavior reflecting an imbalance of dopamine activity in the brain's hemispheres. Pretreatment with CDNF 6 hours before the toxin injection significantly reduced circling and almost completely rescued the dopamine neurons; CDNF given 4 weeks after toxin administration actually helped restore dopamine neurons and also significantly reduced circling behavior.

"Our results suggest that CDNF might be beneficial for the treatment of Parkinson's disease," the researchers said.