A potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease is being developed in Queensland.
Researchers are targeting gut health to slow or stop the progression of the illness conditions.
PD currently affects millions of people worldwide.
Australian researchers are working on developing drugs that target bugs in the guts of Parkinson’s disease patients in a radical new treatment approach they hope will slow or even stop the progression of the debilitating illness.
Queensland University of Technology neuroscientist Richard Gordon said the research followed emerging evidence suggesting the gut was as important as the brain in the development of Parkinson’s.
Associate Professor Gordon, based at the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane, said studies showed differences in the complex gut ecosystems of Parkinson’s disease patients compared with healthy people.
He said people with Parkinson’s disease were known to experience persistent inflammation and activation of the immune system, believed to be closely linked to an imbalance of microbes in their guts.
“The inflammation, over a prolonged period, has been shown to damage the vulnerable dopamine-producing neurons that are gradually lost in people with Parkinson’s,” Associate Professor Gordon said.
Two years ago, Ross Martin began to notice a tremor in his hand.
Rise in cases linked to ‘chemical exposure’
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive movement disorder, characterised by degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain.
The decrease in dopamine levels results in impaired mobility – including tremors, stiffness of the arms and legs, slow movement, and poor balance.
Other symptoms can include an impaired sense of smell, disturbed sleep, anxiety and depression, fatigue, gut problems, and speech changes.
Drug treatments, such as levodopa, which increases the amount of dopamine in the brain, help alleviate some patients’ symptoms rather than slow the progression of the illness.
The gut is a new target
The Queensland research will involve both human and animal studies to identify new classes of therapeutics to treat Parkinson’s disease, first described more than 200 years ago by London doctor, James Parkinson.
Scientists will study blood, urine, and faecal samples from at least 70 Parkinson’s patients and compare them to those of similarly aged healthy volunteers.
“One of the ways we study the gut microbiome is by sequencing the bacteria that’s present in people’s guts,” Associate Professor Gordon said.
abc
