Trials begin for a new weapon against Parkinson s: light | Science | AAAS
Light therapy can help lift moods, heal wounds, and boost the immune system. Can it improve symptoms of Parkinson s disease, too? A first-of-its-kind trial scheduled to launch this fall in France aims to find out. In seven patients, a fiber optic cable implanted in their brain will deliver pulses of near-infrared (NIR) light directly to the substantia nigra, a region deep in the brain that degenerates in Parkinson s disease. The team, led by neurosurgeon Alim- Louis Benabid of the Clinatec Institute a partnership between several government-funded research institutes and industry hopes the light will protect cells there from dying.
The study is one of several set to explore how Parkinson s patients might benefit from light. I am so excited, says neuropsychologist Dawn Bowers of the University of Florida College of Medicine, who is recruiting patients for a trial in which NIR will be beamed into the skull instead of delivered with an implant.