In Parkinson’s disease (PD), the progressive neuromotor disorder of central nervous system, patients often complain of gut problems, issues that can precede a diagnosis by decades.
Coincidence or something more?
Enter the gut-brain axis, a superhighway tracking a complex relationship between the gut microbiome and nervous system.
A recent article from the International Probiotics Association delved into Parkinson’s disease expressions: loss of dopaminergic neurons and a buildup of alpha-synuclein in surviving neurons. They found in the research that neuroinflammation and reactive oxidative species production favor accumulation. And both are linked to microbial imbalance.
Probiotics Show Promise in Parkinson’s Disease appears in Whole Foods magazine online.
The article reviews various lines of inquiry according to IPA:
- Gut dysbiosis leads to an altered ratio of short-chain fatty acids.
- Impairment of gastric mobilitywith increased dopaminergic content and overexpression of dopaminergic receptors in the stomach.
- Increased intestinal permeability leading to “leaky gut” may provoke local and systemic inflammation.
- Increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines
- Direct correlation between gut bacterial count and disease progressionin PD patients.
- Different composition of gut microbiota in PD compared to healthy subjects
- Predisposition to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
