Parkinson's disease is characterized by the death of dopamine-producing neurons in a part of the brain responsible for motor movement. Now there's fresh evidence for how these crucial brain cells are being killed off.

Building on previous studies in animal models showing that as these neurons die, the remaining ones work harder, researchers from the Gladstone Institute for Neurological Disease in the US used genetically modified mice to test the theory that intense bursts of overactivity could be causing the initial damage.

Their experiments showed that when drugs were used to artificially stimulate dopamine neurons in the brains of the test animals for several days, the cells gradually degenerated and then died – specifically in the region for motor control known as the substantia

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