Does Parkinson’s Begin in the Gut?

 

Via: Scientific American:

The idea that the earliest stages of Parkinson’s disease may occur in the gastrointestinal tract has been gaining traction. A growing body of evidence supports this hypothesis, but the question of how changes in the intestines drive neurodegeneration in the brain remains an active area of investigation. Some studies propose that aggregates of alpha synuclein move from the intestines to the brain through the vagus nerve. Others suggest that molecules such as bacterial breakdown products stimulate activity along this channel, or that that the gut influences the brain through other mechanisms, such as inflammation. Together, however, these findings add to the growing consensus that “even if the pathology [of Parkinson’s] is very much driven by brain abnormalities, it doesn’t mean that the process starts in the brain,” says Michael Schlossmacher, a physician-scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.