According to recent study done in Canada, patients suffering from Parkinson's disease show enhanced brain chemical reaction just because they have an expectation of getting a helpful drug even though they have been given a placebo instead.
The study was conducted on 35 people suffering from either mild or moderate Parkinson's disease. These patients were being treated with the help of a drug called levodopa. At the start of the study, the patients had to undergo PET scans of the brain. Then they were given the drug and were subjected to another scan.
On the 2nd day of the study, the participants were informed separately that they had a 25, 50, 75 or 100 percent chance of getting the drug before they had a brain scan. However, none of the participants were given the drug. Instead they were all given a placebo.
On checking the participants, it was found that those who were informed that they had a 75 percent chance of getting the drug showed significantly higher amounts of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter. This effect was not observed in any of the other patients.
The strange part of the study is that the release of more amount of dopamine was only seen when the participants were informed that they had three in four chance of receiving the drug and not when they were informed that they had a hundred percent surety of receiving the drug.
However, researchers claim that the result is what they expected and in line with dopaminergic activation, which occurs when a person expects a reward but is not certain of getting it. Basically what this means is that when a patient is certain that he or she is going to get the drug, the dopamine reward response is not seen.
The reason this new study is important as clinical trials can be designed taking into consideration the dopamine reward response.
Kum Martin is an online leading expert in elderly care industry. He also offers top quality articles like:
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