3 minute read
“there is evidence that in one subgroup of the disease, there are symptoms in the gut decades before people develop the movement problems associated with parkinson’s,” says the associate professor for medicine and neurology at the university of british columbia . “we want to see what goes wrong with the gut,” she says.
it’s why she’s excited by a new study by danish scientists making the gut-brain connection, and theorizing that parkinson’s disease may not be one disease but actually two.
they believe there are two subtypes of the disease: one is a brain-first (top-down) type, where a “pathology” begins in the brain and spreads to the autonomic nervous system, and a body-first (bottom-up) type, “where the pathology originates in the enteric or peripheral autonomic nervous system and then spreads to the brain,” according to the study. the researchers also found that rem sleep behavior disorder , in which people physically act out dreams, rather than remaining still during rem, is linked to the body-first type of parkinson’s.
advertisement
parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease that affects over 100,000 canadians . it is caused by the death of nerves in the brain that produce dopamine. when this begins to happen, patients begin to experience symptoms of tremor, mobility issues, rigid muscles, fatigue, and poor balance. there is no cure for parkinson’s though certain medications, physical therapy and speech therapy can help alleviate symptoms.
should the two-subtype theory hold, it could unlock new ways of identifying patients at risk of parkinson’s and target therapies for each type, according to julie wysocki, director of the parkinson canada research program .
currently, medications used to treat parkinson’s work to improve patients’ quality of life but do not slow the progression of the disease.
advertisement
if you or someone you care about is living with parkinson’s disease, connecting with a support network can help to not only learn ways to better manage their health, but also share experiences with others. some canadian resources include the parkinson canada, parkinson’s resource centre and in the u.s., the michael j. fox foundation for parkinson’s research.
