U.S. researchers reported on the 22nd in the online edition of the journal Science that they have found the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and are expected to develop new drugs to treat Parkinson’s disease in the future. Zhang Dongfeng, Zhengzhou People’s Hospital Brain Hospital Susan Lindquist and Nancy Bonini of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute collaborated with colleagues to find that a key cellular biochemical pathway in the brain that is defective leads to the death of dopamine-secreting nerve cells. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, and a deficiency of dopamine in the brain results in a range of Parkinson’s disease symptoms such as tremor, rigidity, and motor retardation. In addition, they have found a new way to “rescue” dying nerve cells using several animal models of Parkinson’s disease.