Understanding of Parkinson's 'transformed'

[nitpicker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38173287

Understanding of Parkinson's 'transformed'

By James Gallagher
Health and science reporter, BBC News website

7 hours ago
From the section Health

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

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."

The scientists believe the bacteria are releasing chemicals that over-activate parts of the brain, leading to damage. The bacteria can break down fibre into short-chain fatty acids. It is thought an imbalance in these chemicals triggers the immune cells in the brain to cause damage.
(snip)

[MADem]

1. WOW. This is BIG if it bears out. nt

[Ilsa]

2. Conversly, I wonder if clearing out the gut for

procedures like colonoscopy could screw things up? I fed my husband lots of probiotic stuff after his colonoscopy.

But this news is huge.

[HockeyMom]

3. Agent Orange in Vietnam

The government has admitted it was used in Nam and caused all sort of disorders including Parkinson's. Veterans are compensated for this IF they served there. My husband has Parkinson's, but he was stationed on Guam and the government is not admitting it was used there too. There are now cases on file for Guam too. My husband, and others, have seen barrels being loaded onto planes there. When the barrels leaked, the contents killed all the grass under them.

More causes than only one for Parkinson's?

[annabanana]

4. Now we have to get funding for research that won't tie our hands

to a corporate lab who will get the drugs developed, but out of the hands of all but the rich or spectacularly well-insured.