Dopamine Therapy Instilling Improved Mobility, Creativeness In Parkinson's Patients

January 14, 2013

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Health experts around the world are talking about a remarkable phenomenon seen in Parkinsons patients that was first noticed by researchers at Tel Aviv Universitys Sackler Faculty of Medicine over the holidays.

Professor Rivka Inzelberg said patients she treated at Sheba Medical Center clinic had skipped bringing the usual presents of chocolate, flowers and knick-knacks in over the holiday season and had instead brought in works of art that they had made themselves.

The remarkableness of this has to do with a drug that has been administered to many of these patients to increase dopamine activity in the brain as a therapy for loss of motor skills that come with tremors and muscle rigidity.

Inspired by the discovery, Inzelberg further sought out evidence elsewhere to ensure it wasnt a fluke seen only in her practice. By researching other case studies around the world, Inzelberg analyzed the data to come to the conclusion that all of the patients she encountered had been treated with either synthetic precursors of dopamine or dopamine receptor agonists.

Publishing her findings in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, Inzelberg said dopamines main purpose is to aid in the transmission of motor commands; a lack of dopamine in patients with Parkinsons leads to tremors and difficulty in coordinating movement. However, dopamine is also involved in the brains reward systemsuch as the satisfaction or happiness that we feel when we accomplish something positive.

Inzelberg believes this reward system is what is being associated with the increase in activity and creativity seen in Parkinsons patients. Dopamine and artistry have long been connected, added Inzelberg, citing the example of Vincent Van Gogh, who suffered from psychosis. She said it is entirely possible that his creativity was the result of his psychosis, believed to be caused by spontaneous spiking of dopamine in the brain.

Inzelberg said there seems to be no limit to the types of artistry for which patients develop talents. One case involves an architect who began to draw and paint human figures after treatment, and another who, after treatment, became a prize-winning poet though never being artistic before the disease struck.

It may be possible that these patients are expressing latent talents they never had the courage to follow beforehand, said Inzelberg. Its entirely possible that impulse has a lot to do with it as well. Dopamine therapies have also been associated with obsessional activities, such as excessive gambling. The increase in artistic drive could be linked to this lowering of inhibitions, allowing patients to embrace creativity in a way that had never felt inclined to do beforehand. Some patients went as far as to say their dosage levels played into their creativeness, saying the higher the doses are, the more creative they become.

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Dopamine Therapy Instilling Improved Mobility, Creativeness In Parkinson's Patients