'Too much' brain calcium may cause Parkinson's

[Kia17]

Before my diagnosis I always had Low level of Vitamin D (like many of Pwpd) and High level of PTH (Parathyroid hormone) but normal calcium level. This study is from 2018 but Calcium concept has been intriguing me for years specially after I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

Insights from a new study — by the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom — about the role of calcium in brain cells’ signaling mechanisms brings us closer to understanding the causes of Parkinson’s disease.

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

C-terminal calcium binding of α-synuclein modulates synaptic vesicle interaction

nature.com/articles/s41467-...

Calcium levels rise inside brain cells when they need to release neurotransmitters - such as releasing dopamine to send messages to co-ordinate movement. This study suggests that when calcium levels increase, alpha-synuclein is activated and attaches to packages of neurotransmitters (called 'synaptic vesicles') which helps them to be released. For everything to work properly there needs to be the right balance of calcium and alpha-synuclein in the cell. According to this study, when this balance is disturbed and there is too much of one or the other, alpha-synuclein starts to form toxic clumps that damage the cell.

Parkinson’s disease: don’t mess with calcium

jci.org/articles/view/62835

[park_bear]

Calcium levels in the blood plasma are very tightly regulated, regardless of whether or not one takes a calcium supplement. Too much calcium in certain neurons would be due to local causes.

[Oceanflow in reply to park_bear]

Hi there Bear! very interesting . are you trying to tell us that taking a calcium supplement or eating extra calcium in your diet won’t affect the calcium level found in the brain? I don’t understand exactly. I was told by a health worker set my nails showed I had a major deficiency of calcium as evident by the ridges on my finger nails , and this was just a couple years before I was diagnosed.

[park_bear in reply to Oceanflow]

That is a pretty broad statement and I would not go quite so far. For example, excess calcium that cannot properly be transported out of the bloodstream due to vitamin K deficiency will deposit in arteries causing hardening of the arteries. This can happen in the brain as well as anywhere else in the body.

But as to levels of calcium in individual neurons, that is regulated by the neuron itself.

[ryant123]

Hello, It may help to know what the calcium to magnesium ratio was. The study mentioned other minerals.