Parkinson's Disease "May Start in Gut"

[mountaineer]

Parkinson's disease 'may start in gut'
By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website
    2 December 2016
BBC (excerpted - click for full story)

Scientists in California say they have transformed understanding of Parkinson's disease.

Their animal experiments, published in the journal Cell, suggest the brain disorder may be caused by bacteria living in the gut.

The findings could eventually lead to new ways of treating the disease, such as drugs to kill gut bugs or probiotics.

Experts said the results opened an "exciting new avenue of study".

In Parkinson's disease the brain is progressively damaged, leading to patients experiencing a tremor and difficulty moving.

Researchers used mice genetically programmed to develop Parkinson's as they produced very high levels of the protein alpha-synuclein, which is associated with damage in the brains of Parkinson's patients.

But only those animals with bacteria in their stomachs developed symptoms. Sterile mice remained healthy.

Further tests showed transplanting bacteria from Parkinson's patients to mice led to more symptoms than bacteria taken from healthy people.

Dr Timothy Sampson, one of the researchers at the California Institute of Technology, said: "This was the 'eureka' moment, the mice were genetically identical, the only difference was the presence or absence of gut microbiota.

"Now we were quite confident that gut bacteria regulate, and are even required for, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease."  ...

Parkinson's is currently incurable.

While the findings need to be confirmed in people, but the researchers hope that drugs that work in the digestive system or even probiotics may become new therapies for the disease. ...

[mountaineer]

Study: Parkinson’s May Start In Gut, Travel To The Brain
December 2, 2016 9:55 AM

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Parkinson’s, a neural disease in which cells deep within the brain die which causes tremors, difficulty staying still and moving, may not emanate from the brain as conventional wisdom would lead us to believe.

According to New Scientist, it’s possible that the origins of Parkinson’s come from within the gut.

Scientists surely haven’t dispelled the theory yet and are taking it seriously.

They say it’s plausible because those suffering from Parkinson’s also have digestive issues, typically constipation, and that can start a decade before the tremors begin.

“That would be game-changing,” says David Burn at Newcastle University, UK told New Scientist. “There are lots of different mechanisms that could potentially stop the spread.”

Those who have Parkinson’s have different bacteria in their stomach than those without the disease, and people who have their main nerve to their stomach cut have a less chance of getting Parkinson’s.

“It could be that having the wrong bacteria in your gut triggers inflammation,” Sébastien Paillusson at King’s College London told New Scientist. “We know that inflammation makes synuclein more likely to aggregate.”

Testing has been carried out in labs to further pursue the notion, and it has the potential to be a big step in curing or preventing Parkinson’s.