Neurodegenerative

Parkinson's Disease: Restoring Dopamine

If antipsychotics cause Parkinson-like stiffness by blocking dopamine, then Parkinson's disease — a genuine loss of dopamine — should be treatable by putting dopamine back. It is, and the effect can look almost miraculous: a rigid, trembling patient rises and walks. But you can't just give dopamine (it won't reach the brain), and even the clever workaround eventually fights back. This is the story of chasing a fading transmitter.

Alzheimer's & Dementia: Cholinesterase Inhibitors & Memantine

The memory that fades in Alzheimer's disease has a chemical signature: the brain's acetylcholine — the transmitter of memory — is running out as the neurons that make it die. Today's main drugs work by squeezing more out of what remains, plus one that shields neurons from a different kind of damage. They don't stop the disease, but understanding them shows exactly how two ideas from earlier in this course come together in the ageing brain.