Australian scientists researching the causes of Parkinson's disease say their breakthrough will help develop new ways of treating other debilitating illnesses.
Neuroscientists at the Garvan Institute in Sydney have discovered how the brain's dopamine nerve cells regulate the release of the hormone to control the body's movements.
The debilitating shaking symptoms of Parkinson's happen when the brain does not produce enough of the substance.
Dr Bryce Vissel says it is a big step forward in treating the disease.
"We're going to be using this method to actually discover how drugs treat Parkinson's disease currently and to make new therapeutic developments that may be completely novel, completely new ways of treating Parkinson's," he said.
Dr James Daniel says the discovery will help develop new drugs to treat the rising number of sufferers, but it also has wider implications.
"We're talking a lot about Parkinson's disease because that's been the primary focus of our research but these cells are also very important in a number of other neurological disorders," he said.
"They're critically implicated in schizophrenia - the model system can be applied exactly the same way to studying that."
For more information go to www.parkinsonresearchfoundation.org
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