Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel have developed a method to detect early signs of Parkinson’s disease at the cellular level using skin biopsies. They say that this capability could enable treatment up to 20 years before the appearance of motor symptoms characteristic of advanced Parkinson’s. Such early treatment could reduce neurotoxic protein aggregates in the brain and help prevent the irreversible loss of dopamine-producing neurons.

The new method combines a super-resolution microscopy technique, known as direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM), with advanced computational analysis to identify and map the aggregation of alpha-synuclein (αSyn), a synaptic protein that regulates transmission in nerve terminals. When it aggregates in brain neurons, αSyn causes neurotoxicity and impacts the central nervous system. In Parkinson’s disease, αSyn begins to aggregate about 15 years before motor symptoms appear.