Promising study in the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Promising study in the treatment of Parkinson's disease

More than 10 million people worldwide are living with PD or Parkinson's disease. It is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremors, muscle stiffness, impaired movement, and poor balance and coordination.

However, a new study finds that a type of gut bacteria causes the damaging 'clumps' of neurons that are a hallmark of Parkinson's disease.

While this discovery opens the door to the development of targeted treatments for this debilitating disease, according to what New Atlas reported on the Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology journal.

alpha-synuclein protein

When the protein alpha-synuclein, which is mostly found in nerve cells, accumulates, it forms Lewy bodies. The presence of alpha-synuclein and Lewy bodies in the brain and throughout the nervous system is a hallmark of Parkinson's disease.

Aggregating alpha syncytia has also been found in the gut, and it is thought that a gut-based pathogen may cause aggregation, which then travels to the brain

more famous

In an effort to better understand the causes of Parkinson's disease, researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland examined the role that a type of bacteria, specifically Desulfovibrio, commonly referred to as DSV, might play.

It is worth noting that the link between harmful Desulfovibrio bacteria and Parkinson's disease was investigated in 2021. At that time, researchers discovered that the bacteria was more prevalent in Parkinson's patients. They found that there was a severity of symptoms observed in patients who had an increased build-up of DSV bacteria.

specific breeds

However, in a 2021 study, it was not explored how DSV bacteria contributed to the development of Parkinson's disease. So, in Caenorhabditis elegans, the researchers set out to examine whether DSV strains contribute to the accumulation of alpha-synuclein bodies and thus to Parkinson's disease.

And they concluded, after their laboratory experiments, that strains of DSV bacteria from people with Parkinson's disease, unlike healthy people, appear to be more toxic and can cause more accumulation of alpha-synuclein bodies, indicating that the results of the study highlight an important role that environmental factors play in the development of infection. Parkinson's disease.

Important results

In the context, Per Saris, a co-author of the study, said, "Our findings are important, because the cause of Parkinson's disease is still unknown despite attempts to identify it over the past two centuries."

He added, "The results indicate that certain strains of Desulfovibrio bacteria are likely to cause Parkinson's disease, that is, it is mainly caused by environmental factors," explaining that "environmental exposure to DSV bacterial strains causes Parkinson's disease," noting that "Parkinson's disease results in Only a small percentage, or approximately 10%, of genes are individual.

Getting rid of harmful bacteria

He also explained that, in light of the results of the study, “carriers of this harmful bacteria can be detected from Desulfovibrio. Thus, they can be targeted by procedures to remove these strains from the gut, which may relieve and slow the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.”

It is indicated that further future studies could reveal the differences between the strains of Desulfovibrio DSV, which have been observed in people with cerebral palsy and healthy subjects.

Maguy Farah's horoscope predictions for the year 2023