Parkinson’s disease is a serious condition that affects how the body moves. It causes symptoms like shaking, muscle stiffness, and trouble with balance and coordination.
Around 8 million people around the world live with this disease. For a long time, scientists didn’t know exactly what caused it.
Now, new research may help explain where the disease comes from. Scientists have found that a certain type of bacteria in the gut could be linked to Parkinson’s disease.
Our bodies contain trillions of bacteria, especially in the gut. Most of these bacteria are harmless and actually help us digest food, fight off infections, and stay healthy. But some types of bacteria may cause problems. One of these could be connected to Parkinson’s disease.
In 2021, a research team led by Professor Per Saris at the University of Helsinki found that people with Parkinson’s disease had more of a type of bacteria called Desulfovibrio in their digestive systems. The more of this bacteria a person had, the worse their symptoms were. Other scientists in China also found similar results.
This finding is important because it suggests that Parkinson’s disease may not be mainly caused by genes. While some people inherit the disease from their family, only about 10% of cases are due to genetics.
That means about 90% of cases may be caused by things in the environment, such as bacteria or harmful chemicals. Saris and his team believe that some types of Desulfovibrio bacteria may be one of the environmental causes.
People might come into contact with this bacteria through the food they eat or their surroundings. Once in the body, these bacteria could lead to changes in the brain that cause Parkinson’s disease.
To test this idea, the scientists used a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. This worm is often used in science experiments because its body works in some of the same ways as humans.
One of the main features of Parkinson’s disease is the build-up of a protein in the brain called alpha-synuclein. This protein clumps together and damages nerve cells, which causes the symptoms of the disease.
The scientists found that Desulfovibrio bacteria from people with Parkinson’s disease made large clumps of this protein form in the worms. The clumps were bigger and more harmful than those caused by bacteria from people without the disease.
These results suggest that removing the harmful bacteria from the gut might help slow down or even stop the disease. If doctors can find a way to remove Desulfovibrio bacteria from the gut, it could lead to fewer protein clumps in the brain. This could mean better treatments or even ways to prevent the disease from starting in the first place.
Although more research is needed, this discovery offers new hope. It also shows how important it is to keep the gut healthy, as the bacteria in our digestive systems can have a big impact on our brains.
In the future, we may be able to treat Parkinson’s disease by simply adjusting the bacteria in the gut. That’s a big change from the way we think about brain diseases today.
If you care about Parkinson’s disease, please read studies that Vitamin B may slow down cognitive decline, and Mediterranean diet could help lower risk of Parkinson’s.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how wheat gluten might be influencing our brain health, and Olive oil: a daily dose for better brain health..
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology.
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