Parkinson's placebo effect

The placebo effect is an often-discussed phenomenon in drug development, but whether it actually exists and the actual mechanism by which placebos might work is less clear. Researchers at the University of British Columbia now have identified a placebo effect in Parkinson's disease trials, which may shed some light on the placebo mechanism in the disease and offer strategies for mitigating the effect in PD studies.

In an article published in Science last week, the researchers showed that 6 patients given a placebo had increased dopamine secretion compared to baseline, leading the authors to suggest there is a placebo-induced release of exogenous dopamine in the striatum. They suggested that dopamine release is linked to the expectation of therapeutic benefit. ...