diego, they do test neuroprotective agents all the time. they test them all the time in vitro and on mice/rats.
they did a major study on azilect
people taking all pd meds continue to get worse, that seems to tell me pd drugs are not very neuroprotective.
coq10 had a major neuroprotective study, there is a new one.
they have done studies on selegilene being neuroprotective.
and vit c and vit-e..
there are dozens if not hundreds of papers on potentially neuroprotective agents.
pd'ers take all sorts of other drugs and supplements, i'm sure a neuro would notice a patient that wasn't progressing as expected and do a little digging and most pd'ers and their family members would mention this to their neuro. everything that's been tested on humans has failed and these are very long trials. i would speculate researchers are looking for a way to test cell lines, etc. or some other way to test neuroprotection and haven't developed it yet since it's very tough to detect small benefits in a heterogenous population. just speculating.


major problem is by the time you are diagnosed, you have lost supposedly 80% of your dopamine neurons, neuroprotection might have to do an impossible task, that is prevent anymore neuron loss in a person at an age where even normal people lose a few neurons yearly - we would all get pd if we lived long enough.

that's why there is so much research at detecting pd as early as possible and susceptible genotypes earlier, when neuroprotection can really be tested and the benefit proportionally greater, and there will be a potentially huge pool of subjects. as dna testing becomes cheaper and eventually everyone gets tested, neuroprotection research will explode, the public will demand it.


again, a major problem in all pd research is finding subjects. researchers can spend over a year finding candidates.