Physicians caring for patients with Parkinson disease know that the disease is often accompanied by a disruption of the digestive system (constipation, bloating, indigestion, difficulty swallowing, etc.). These symptoms often appear with the first motor disturbances.
A new study from the California Institute of Technology in the United States, published in Cell magazinesuggests that these intestinal disorders would not be the consequence of Parkinson’s disease but would play a crucial role from the origin and development of the disorders.
There would be a microbial profile specific to patients with Parkinson’s
By studying brain disorders in mice, researchers found that changes in the microbiome could trigger the diseaseof Parkinson’s. When they transplanted faecal samples from people with the disease into sterile mice that were germ-free but genetically modified to develop Parkinson’s disease, the symptoms worsened. While no symptoms appeared in mice that received samples of intestinal bacteria people without Parkinson’s disease.
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“What we extrapolate is that there is a different microbial profile that regulates Parkinson’s disease. Bacteria must release chemicals that activate certain areas of the brain and cause damage” Explain at the BBC Dr. Sarkis Mazmanian, lead author of the study. “More generally, this research reveals that a neurodegenerative disease may have its origins in the gut and not just in the brain as previously thought”.
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