I believe that this research could actually point to some of the reasons WHY we are different. The fundamental unbalancing that is discussed and the 'rewiring' aspects too have a kind of logic to them. For instance it could explain why tremor is the major visible sign for some of us, and rigidity for others. I have long had questions about this, why are some of us shakers, and others stiff, they are like the opposite ends, and functioning well is the fulcrum, so what shifts things one way or the other? It also seems to tie in with some of the neurotransmitter balance stuff too....... like how for some of us anticholinergics can help (less dopamine means the dopamine/acetylcholine balance goes out of whack, address this and you get symptomatic improvement). More than this, it could explain what tremor is all about. My reading of it anyway. And the rewiring might explain our loss of automaticity....... Like Laura I don't think this will lead to new treatments, but perhaps it will contribute to looking at PD in a fresh way, not so based on ldopa (small picture) only. What I would like to see is the better thinking integrated into a bigger picture of what is going on. Then that sense of being a whisker away from normality that we sometimes feel might actually start to translate into the possibility of treatments for all of us, not just the ones with 'classic' pd.

Thanks for posting about this.