New test to detect Parkinson's disease

Scientists have developed a new method to diagnose Parkinson's disease at a much lower cost than current systems.

Parkinson's disease is identified by a deficiency of dopamine, which also indicated other serious diseases of the nervous system, and the current tests for this are unavailable in doctor's surgeries as they require specialist equipment and are also very costly to undertake.

However, a new test devised by researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) could allow physicians to detect dopamine in solutions easily and at low cost, even in the presence of interferences.

The process involves electrodes coated with carbon nanoparticles deposited on silicate submicroparticles, with the electrodes successfully applied to determine dopamine concentration.

"Carbon nanoparticles have negatively charged functional groups, and the silicates positively charged ones. The electrostatic interactions between them are quite strong. We checked that by multiple repeating of the immersion a 'sandwich' consisting of up to 24 layers can be obtained on the electrode surface," said PAS PhD student Anna Celebanska.