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I was a high care Parkinson's nurse for 5 years. Whilst I'd love to see a viable treatment/cure for this devastating disease, I don't think brain implants are

I was a high care Parkinson's nurse for 5 years. Whilst I'd love to see a viable treatment/cure for this devastating disease, I don't think brain implants are a high potential research vector for what is a cellular disease characterised by mitochondrial dysfunction. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) requires invasive, expensive surgery and doesn't deliver consistent or lasting outcomes because candidate selection is haphazard, and the procedure doesn't alter the disease trajectory. The dopaminergic cells in the striatum continue to die. I'm surprised to see this NIR trial proceed without a clear hypothesis for how it might work. It sounds like the group is well funded, but even if NIR gets similar results to electro DBS, it would only likely be a niche symptom alleviator for those who can afford it. I found this part of the article disturbing. In 2017, together with research fellow Cécile Moro, they injected 20 macaques with a neurotoxin known to cause Parkinson’s symptoms. In nine of them, they also delivered NIR to the midbrain area through an implanted device. Mitrofanis recalls how the first NIR-treated monkey behaved after a 3-week recovery period: “He was moving around like there was nothing wrong. We looked at each other and just hugged. … It was euphoric.”

rogerkirkness 6y ago
NIR acts on the mitochondria. This is already proven along with movement therapy in small studies. The price of NIR and red light fall with LEDs. So if it works even a bit now, in 5 years when LEDs are much cheaper it will be the first line.
- wombatmobile 6y ago
  What is the cost of an LED? What is the cost of neurosurgery?
omgwtfbyobbq 6y ago
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) requires invasive, expensive surgery and doesn't deliver consistent or lasting outcomes because candidate selection is haphazard, and the procedure doesn't alter the disease trajectory. The dopaminergic cells in the striatum continue to die. That depends on the kind of Parkinson's. In some cases, the root cause is genetic, not neurodegenerative, and in those cases DBS can significantly alter the disease trajectory.

rogerkirkness 6y ago

NIR acts on the mitochondria. This is already proven along with movement therapy in small studies. The price of NIR and red light fall with LEDs. So if it works even a bit now, in 5 years when LEDs are much cheaper it will be the first line.

wombatmobile 6y ago
What is the cost of an LED? What is the cost of neurosurgery?

omgwtfbyobbq 6y ago

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) requires invasive, expensive surgery and doesn't deliver consistent or lasting outcomes because candidate selection is haphazard, and the procedure doesn't alter the disease trajectory. The dopaminergic cells in the striatum continue to die. That depends on the kind of Parkinson's. In some cases, the root cause is genetic, not neurodegenerative, and in those cases DBS can significantly alter the disease trajectory.