The protein, known as alpha-synuclein, is believed to help nerve cells communicate by controlling the release of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine.
Parkinson's is a chronic, progressive disease marked by the death of nerves that control voluntary muscle movement.
The scientists found the phosphate-deficient alpha synuclein in rats bred to have a form of Parkinson's disease. Phophates are compounds containing phosphorus, and are important in many bodily processes.
Rats that were given a gene therapy that stimulated the growth of the phosphate did not develop the Parkinson-like illness.
"This is one more piece of information about what might be causing the toxicity in Parkinson's disease, and it gives us a little more to go on about what alpha-synuclein does in the brain," said University of Florida Professor Nicholas Muzyczka, one of the study's authors.
The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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