This isn't brand new, but is getting published here.

http://speech-language-pathology-audiology.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=108864

Researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and
Washington University in St. Louis, MO have discovered the key brain
chemical that causes Parkinson's disease - a breakthrough finding that
could pave the way for new, far more effective therapies to treat one
of the most common and debilitating neurological disorders (Acta
Neuropathologica, February 2008).

......The researchers discovered that dopamine itself actually plays a role
in destroying the cells that produce it.

In the process that leads to Parkinson's disease, dopamine is
converted into a highly toxic chemical called DOPAL. Using test-tube,
cell-culture and animal models, the researchers found that it is DOPAL
that causes alpha-synuclein protein in the brain to clump together,
which in turn triggers the death of dopamine-producing cells and leads
to Parkinson's.


paula