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Bacillus subtilis, however, nearly all these behaviors reverted to wild-type levels. The probiotic suppressed accumulation of α-synuclein into Lewy bodies by 75 percent, and prevented the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons (see images above). The worms lived as long as wild-types. The data suggest that probiotics could possibly prevent the development of PD pathology, Grau said.
“We think LRRK2 is the horse, and α-synuclein the buggy; where the buggy goes depends on which way the horse pulls,”
He noted that probiotics might trigger shifts in the relative abundance of other species in the gut microbiome, leading to changes throughout the intestine. In theory, such microbiome changes could also help prevent PD by keeping the α-synuclein response to infection in check, he said. Signs of ongoing α-synuclein aggregation occur in healthy people in the GI tract, notably in the appendix (Gray et al., 2013), and chronic constipation is associated with PD risk. Gut motility, which is influenced in part by the GI tract’s microbiome constituents, could thus be a modifiable risk factor, Schlossmacher argues.—Madolyn
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