Researchers from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP) are working on a new drug "more efficient and with fewer side effects" for Parkinson's disease.

In a statement, issued this Thursday, April 11, on which World Parkinson's Disease Awareness Day is marked, FCUP states that researchers believe that the new drug will have "fewer side effects than those currently used".

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Parkinson's disease results from the loss of neurons that produce an important neurotransmitter - dopamine - which is responsible for physiological processes such as memory, emotions, and movement control. The drugs currently used aim primarily to increase the production of dopamine in the central nervous system.

"However, over the years, these drugs lose their effectiveness, requiring higher doses to be administered, which results in side effects that, in many cases, can even exacerbate the symptoms of the disease", highlights FCUP. To reverse these effects, the researchers focused on modulating dopamine receptors and are developing in the laboratory "analogues of a neuropeptide", namely melanostatin.

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Discovered in the 1970s, melanostatin exists naturally in the body, and its anti-Parkinson activity has been proven in clinical trials. The researchers' goal is to make melanostatin "a drug candidate, with greater biological stability and improved gastrointestinal absorption".

Quoted in the statement, the researcher from the Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry (LAQV-REQUIMTE) of FCUP, Ivo Dias, points out that "one of the three amino acids that make up this substance [melanostatin] can be structurally modified without impairing the modulatory activity of dopamine receptors".

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This modification has already allowed the researchers to achieve "promising results", by verifying that the compounds developed in the laboratory "are not only more efficient, but also do not present toxicity in neuronal cells". "We found that some of our analogues are even more potent than melanostatin, being able to activate receptors at an even lower concentration of dopamine", says the researcher.

In this new approach, the side effects "are much reduced because melanostatin has no activity in the absence of dopamine". In the meantime, the researchers intend to carry out tests with 'in vivo' models to test the therapeutic potential of the solution unveiled in different animal species.

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The research is being developed within the scope of the DynaPro project, which ends this year and is funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology. In view of the results, the researchers intend to file a patent application.

Led by LAQV-REQUIMTE, the project includes researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of the Basque Country and the Faculties of Pharmacy of the University of Porto and the University of Santiago de Compostela.

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