Why does doxycycline help Parkinson’s

[nanbaby4]

It can’t be as much discomfort nausea wise as sinamet

[Rhyothemis]

I'm not aware that doxyclycline has ever considered as a replacement for sinemet. Further, AFAIK, doxyclycine has not yet been trialed in humans specifically for PD treatment, though trials have been proposed (in Brazil, IIRC).

Doxycyline has been studied in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases as it has been found to decrease toxic protein aggregates and to reduce neuroinflammation. It has also been shown to increase lifespan in C. elegans (nematode worms) via another mechanism.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

It's not something I would take without consulting a doctor. If someone with PD is already taking doxycycline for another reason (e.g., ocular rosacea), they should probably talk to their neurologist before discontinuing.

[Rhyothemis in reply to Rhyothemis]

Quote from the first linked article:

Doxycycline, a semi-synthetic second-generation tetracycline, is used

currently as a typical antibiotic in humans having clinical safety

record and good penetration of the blood–brain barrier36.

In addition to its well-characterised antibiotic effect, doxycycline

has revealed a range of different targets mainly focused on the

regulatory influence on the immune system, inflammatory pathway and

oxidative stress37,38.

In fact, by tuning the doxycycline concentration, it is possible to

select the anti-inflammatory or antibiotic activity. In this way,

some clinical trials demonstrated that antibiotic dose

administration (200–400 mg/day) is responsible for the

antimicrobial effect which may lead to develop bacterial resistance

and endogenous flora alterations, whereas subantibiotic doses

(20–40 mg/day) do not alter bacteria susceptibility to

antibiotics and exert anti-inflammatory activities39.

Neuroprotective properties of doxycycline in models of cerebral

ischemia, spinal cord injury, PD, Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic

lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis were also reported40,41,42.

The anti-inflammatory properties of doxycycline have been proposed as

the mechanism involved in the neuroprotective effect. Nevertheless,

treatment with conventional anti-inflammatory drugs has not proved

effective in neuroprotection, suggesting that this mechanism alone

would not be enough18.

[park_bear]

There was additional discussion of this matter here:

healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

It was protective against artificially induced parkinsonism in mice. It also slowed down alpha synuclein aggregation in the chem lab. Personally I find this evidence inadequate reason to pursue this.

[gaga1958]

as an antibiotic, ,wouldn't it kill the good bacteria in the gut? isnt that what we want to avoid for gut health?