Parkinson’s disease is a serious brain condition that affects movement.
Famous people like Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox have lived with it. It causes symptoms like shaking, stiffness, slow movement, and balance problems.
But diagnosing Parkinson’s early is very hard, and many current treatments don’t work well for long.
Now, a team of Korean scientists has made an exciting breakthrough. They found a new way to diagnose and treat Parkinson’s disease in mice using artificial intelligence (AI) and a special light-based method called optogenetics.
The study was done by researchers from KAIST and the Institute for Basic Science in Korea, including Professors Won Do Heo and Daesoo Kim and Director Chang-Jun Lee. Their work was published in the journal *Nature Communications* and may change how we understand and treat Parkinson’s.
The researchers created a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease by giving the animals a protein called alpha-synuclein, which causes brain problems similar to those seen in humans with the disease.
They then used AI to watch and measure the animals’ movements in 3D. The AI looked at over 340 different behaviors, including walking, limb movement, and tremors.
The team turned this complex data into one simple score called the APS, or AI-predicted Parkinson’s disease score. This score could detect signs of Parkinson’s just two weeks after the disease started in the mice—much earlier than traditional tests.
The score also showed how serious the disease was. Key signs included shorter steps, uneven movement in the limbs, and fast shaking in the chest.
To make sure the new score was truly specific to Parkinson’s disease, the researchers tested it on mice with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), another brain disorder that causes muscle problems. While those mice also had trouble moving, their APS scores stayed low, showing that the test can tell Parkinson’s apart from other diseases.
For treatment, the team used a new light-based therapy called optoRET. This method uses light to control brain signals and help brain cells function better. When the Parkinson’s mice were treated with optoRET, their walking and limb movements improved, and their shaking went down.
The best results came when the light was used every other day. The therapy also seemed to protect important brain cells that make dopamine, a chemical that helps control movement.
This study is the first in the world to combine early diagnosis, treatment testing, and understanding of Parkinson’s disease using AI and optogenetics in animals. Professor Won Do Heo said the results could lead to new, personalized treatments for Parkinson’s patients in the future.
While this research is still in early stages and was done in mice, it opens the door to better ways of spotting Parkinson’s early and treating it more effectively. It brings new hope to millions of people living with this challenging disease.
The study is published in Nature Communications.
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