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Sparrow brains may give new insight into Parkinson's and dementia

Washington, September 18 : US researchers suggest that cell death in sparrow brains may provide new insight into age-related degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and dementia.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, collaborators from the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley have revealed that a remarkable change takes place in the brains of tiny songbirds every year, and some day the mechanism controlling that change may lead to treatments for Parkinson's and dementia.

The researchers say that they have observed a striking shrinkage in the size of the brain regions that control singing behaviour of Gambel's white-crowned sparrows. According to them, the withdrawal of testosterone, a naturally occurring steroid hormone triggers this transformation.


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