"We validate, in human PD, findings that were observed in experimental models; reconcile and resolve human PD microbiome literature; and provide a broad foundation with a wealth of concrete testable hypotheses to discern the role of the gut microbiome in PD."
My money is still on curli.
Can't say that I understood it all, but I did get one thing out of it. In PD the microbiome is generally increased in inflammatory species, and diminished in species that produce SCFAs. Now if we could design a probiotic that effects both of those...
"In another genetic model of PD (Pink1-/-), intestinal infection with Gram-negative bacterial pathogens was shown to elicit an immune reaction that leads to neuronal degeneration and motor deficits, and which can be reversed with the PD-medication, L-dopa1 ... In addition, we and others have found that, curli, an amyloidogenic protein produced by Gram-negative Escherichia coli, induces alpha-synuclein aggregation and accelerates disease in the gut and neurodegeneration in the brain"
Perhaps someone could help make this clearer for me. Does it mean that motor deficits having been caused by a particular immune reaction can be reversed by levodopa? Or, more excitingly, does it mean that levodopa can be a factor that leads to less neuronal degeneration?
I think that the first sentence you quoted is based on the following sentence, which comes from the abstract of reference 13:
"Notably, these mice show a sharp decrease in the density of dopaminergic axonal varicosities in the striatum and are affected by motor impairment that is reversed after treatment with L-DOPA."
So I think it's the former, rather than the (more exciting) latter.
But interestingly only about 5% of the Levodopa medication one takes gets through the blood-brain barrier...see article in Harvard gazette on this. news.harvard.edu/gazette/st...
So the changing the gut may be the answer - so that more medication can actually be absorbed and put to work...
See also a 2019 SoPD blog post from Simon Stott.
"In today’s post we are going to look at a recent piece of research that suggests some of the bacteria in our gut can influence the availability of the medication we use to treat Parkinson’s."
"In addition, we will look at a novel way researchers are re-engineering bacteria in the gut to correct other medical conditions (such as phenylketonuria) and we will ask if the same can not be applied to Parkinson’s."
What test can you have done to measure the bacteria in your gut? Who would order that test for you? I've asked my PCP to order a stool analysis and he won't do it. Any advice thank you
The American Gut Project
This analogy applies to our inner gut ecosystems as well. I reached out to Daniel McDonald, PhD, Scientific Director of the American Gut Project at the University of California San Diego’s (UC San Diego) School of Medicine, to understand more about where the research stands on defining what is considered healthy in terms of a gut microbiota.
American Gut is a crowd-sourced non-profit research project in which17,000 people – and counting – have paid a small fee to submit a stool sample to the Knight Lab at UC San Diego for analysis. Using gene sequencing technology of the stool sample, researchers can identify the types of bacterial and archaeal organisms residing in a participant’s gut microbiota and correlate the results to self-reported data on the participant’s diet and other lifestyle factors.
upon further research on the American Gut project I find that it has been temporarily been shut down because of research being re-directed to covid.
Important Update - Project temporarily closed.
We are currently not able to supply any of our regular collection kits.
The Microsetta Initiative and its subsidiaries, including the American & British Gut Projects, have pivoted to COVID-19 research. We are working as hard as we can, but please be patient as these changes have required a complete overhaul of our infrastructure.
The BioCollective website should be worth a look.
Mechanisms of motor symptom improvement by long-term Tai Chi training in Parkinson’s disease patients 2022Acupuncture inhibits neuroinflammation and gut microbial dysbiosis in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease 2020Gastrointestinal dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease: absence of anti-gliadin antibodies
Role of Diet and Nutritional Supplements in Parkinson’s Disease Progression
Gut bacterial tyrosine decarboxylases restrict levels of levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
