A new study led by researchers from Michigan State University in Grand Rapids found that people treated with tricyclic antidepressants were less likely to require drug treatment for Parkinson's disease.
On further investigation, the researchers found that rats treated with the tricyclic antidepressant nortriptyline demonstrated a reduction in levels of abnormal alpha-synuclein (a-synuclein) protein in the brain.
Lead study author Tim Collier, of the Department of Translational Science and Molecular Medicine at Michigan State University, and colleagues recently reported their findings in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.
Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by tremors, limb stiffness, and problems with movement and coordination.
Around 60,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with Parkinson's every year, and up to 1 million people in the U.S. are living with the disease.
A buildup of the protein a-synuclein is considered a hallmark of Parkinson's disease. Though this protein is present in the healthy brain, in the brains of people with Parkinson's, it can form toxic clusters that destroy nerve cells.