FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2001
Contact: Judy Haase
(816) 235-1830

$1.16 Million Parkinson's Research Grant Awarded to Investigators in the UMKC School of Medicine and School of Pharmacy

KANSAS CITY, MO. – The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $1.16 million research grant to study nerve cell degeneration of Parkinson's disease to two University of Missouri-Kansas City faculty members.

Gloria Meredith, Ph.D., associate professor, School of Medicine, and Vincent Lau, Ph.D., professor, School of Pharmacy, will be co-investigators for the four-year grant.

Parkinson's is a neurological disorder caused by the slow but progressive degeneration of nerve cells that produce a key chemical, dopamine. The disease causes physical disability characterized by slowing movement, tremor at rest, rigidity and posture disturbance. It is estimated that more than one million people in the United States are affected by Parkinson's, mostly those over 50 years of age.

Meredith's and Lau's research will focus on finding effective ways to slow the process of neuronal cell degeneration. In order to understand the processes that lead to dopamine nerve cell death, and to test new drug therapies, they will use a mouse model developed in their laboratories which shows the major symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Research into Parkinson's has been limited because most animal models were not reliable. Rodents were resistant to the disorder. The development of a mouse model, which mimics Parkinson's, will allow more extensive research into the disease.

According to Meredith, current drug therapy for Parkinson's disease is effective but temporary. Continuous use of drugs such as levodopa has shown that patients become refractory or develop complications that lead to further disability. Available evidence now suggests these complications are due both to disease progression and long-term drug toxicity. Development of novel therapeutic agents to protect against the ongoing destruction of dopaminergic neurons would be an invaluable alternative for improving the quality of life for Parkinson's patients.

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