Closer to checkmate to Parkinson's (1): what Dr. Phillipson says.

[parkinsonshereandnow]

This year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the publication of a writing by Dr. Phillipson and an interview about its content.

Oliver T. Phillipson is a Harvard scientist. A sage who accumulates decades of experience in the study of aging, mitochondria and Parkinson's disease. And he has a dream that I share. And I think many of us who participate in these forums as well, full of interest and hope:

SLOW DOWN AND REVERSE THE PARKINSONIAN DEGENERATIVE PROCESS.

One of the ways to better understand what Parkinson's means today (end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first: Parkinson's diseases, orthodox and heterodox treatments, world of Parkinson's), it seems to me the chronological study of the work of the most notable researchers in some important aspect of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Phillipson stands out for the study of aging and mitochondrial damage. We have few sources: actually four. His 2013 study, an interview and two more studies:

2013. Inhibition of Aging in Parkinson’s Disease: A Case Study.

2014. Management of the aging risk factor for Parkinson's disease.

2017. Alpha-synuclein, epigenetics, mitochondria, metabolism, calcium traffic, & circadian dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. An integrated strategy for management.

In 2013, as mentioned below, the effectiveness of the five supplements used synergistically is proven: alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, coenzyme Q10, melatonin and vitamin E.

I think it's important to mention Zhang and colleagues' 2010 study on the combined use of R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine. Not only for its effectiveness, but for the fact that together they greatly increase their potency and require lower doses. (Zhang et al. 2010. Combined R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine exerts efficient preventative effects in a cellular model of Parkinson's disease. J Cell Mol Med.)

As well as the fact that he claims that coenzyme Q10 is very important, but not enough to defeat this hundred-headed hydra.

In 2014, the combination of alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, coenzyme Q10, and melatonin.

In 2017 he mentions R-lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, ubiquinol, melatonin (or receptor agonists), and vitamin D3.

Like many other great neuroscientists, both in the field of Neurology and in other scientific specialties, they have come to focus on the mitochondria, the cellular energy factory.

Just as Dr. William Osler ("father" of modern medicine) nearly 100 years ago considered Parkinson's to be an accelerated aging of the brain, Phillipson now focuses on the "normal" aging process and its similarities and differences with Parkinson's.

Two excerpts from the interview in which the author reveals safe clues about Parkinson's in general:

"… many of the disease markers for PD are also found in normal aging though in less severe form. This includes recent findings of under expressed epigenetic signaling factors which control energy metabolism and antioxidant control. In some respects, therefore, but not all, PD can be viewed as a severe aging process. Putting right these energy deficits resulting from gene and mitochondrial dysfunction seen in both normal aging and PD, might therefore be an effective way to reduce the impact of disease progression. Results from research into normal aging have yielded nutritional methods by which this might be achieved."

"…this combination of supplements (derived from research into normal aging), is known to improve energy metabolism, mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stresses which are known to be damaging to key elements of metabolic pathways important for energy production. Perhaps more importantly they also improve the epigenetic expression of factors which control the de novo biosynthesis of mitochondria and maintain their structural integrity."

I believe that Dr. Phillipson will leave a very important mark on this silent revolution that we live in and on the road to the definitive cure of this disease.

---

In the book I published in 2022 in English, "The cure for Parkinson's", I mention him in several pages:

392

"Oliver Phillipson's 2013 article teaches us valuable lessons. He used coenzyme Q10, but realised that it alone cannot cope with the overwhelming power of Parkinson's disease, but in combination or synergy with others. Together they were able to beat the disease."

313-315

"3. Phillipson's protocol.

The figure of Oliver T. Phillipson seems to me to be very important in the world of Parkinson's as we will see in the future.

He has a very interesting "Letter to the Editor" published in 2013. For what he says and for the coincidences with other protocols and studies by neurologists such as Perlmutter.

It refers to a patient with Parkinson's disease. He was taking conventional treatment and Phillipson was adding supplements with little success over 11 years until he got a set of them in the right doses and acting synergistically alongside the allopathic treatment.

Usual medication:

carbidopa/levodopa (750 mg/d),

pramipexole (300 mg/d),

entacapone (600 mg/d),

amitriptyline (25 mg/d).

Supplements:

melatonin (0.2-0.8 mg at night),

a-lipoic acid (200 mg/d),

acetyl-l-carnitine (250 mg/d),

CoQ (maintenance dose 200-400 mg/d)

and vitamin E (400 IU/d).

I find the conclusions reached by Professor Phillipson very interesting. The possibility of acting on Parkinson's disease by revitalising the mitochondria and slowing down ageing.

Previous experience of using Coenzyme Q10 alone in early Parkinson's disease suggests that it may result in a limited slowing of progression, but, nevertheless, progression continued and there was no improvement in motor function and no reversal of Parkinson's disease symptoms.

In contrast, in the present case, Parkinson's disease symptoms appear to be resolved and progression was halted with the combination of melatonin, a-lipoic acid plus acetyl-l-carnitine and Coenzyme Q10.

For example, Coenzyme Q10 alone could not stop it, but in combination with others, it did its job effectively.

The supplements were selected to support the function of ageing mitochondria by maintaining cellular energy resources and resisting oxidative and nitrosative stress."

(Jesus Marquez Rivera, "Parkinson's here and now").

[park_bear]

Sorry, but the study by Zhang that you cited, which can be found here: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... is not a valid model of Parkinson's disease, or recovery, because pretreatment:

" We demonstrated that 4-week pretreatment with LA and/or ALC effectively protected SK-N-MC human neuroblastoma cells against rotenone-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative damage and accumulation of α-synuclein and ubiquitin."

prevents the Parkinson's toxic cascade from even getting started. This is only a valid model for preventing injury if someone were to know they were going to be exposed to rotenone. Researchers serious about Parkinson's mitigation apply treatment after Parkinson's toxicity has already developed.

Also, acetyl-L-carnitine supplementation can end up being cardiotoxic. See my writing here: tinyurl.com/2p8jjuf8

[parkinsonshereandnow in reply to park_bear]

Thanks a lot, park_bear. I find the most interesting thing about Zhang's study is that the combination of two supplements can enhance their efficacy, allowing to reduce the doses and, therefore, the possible adverse effects.

There is no supplement or medicinal plant to which some study has not found health risk. Even vitamin C in doses of 500 MG.

But I am convinced that over the course of a lifetime of fighting the disease from diagnosis, at least, drugs such as levodopa, entacapone or numerous agonists produce much greater cardiac, neuronal, hepatic or mitochondrial damage.

In any case, more than 50 years into the levodopa era, with no substantial improvement in the quality of life of millions of patients, we can afford to get out of the excessive rigidity that keeps us trapped in the parkinsonian labyrinth.

Many more studies are needed, but also break new ground.

It may not be very orthodox what I say, but I do not see a substantial improvement in today's patients compared to those who struggled in the two decades my father was ill (1994-2012).

[Bolt_Upright]

To be clear, this Professor Phillipson has a patient that reversed their PD with this supplement stack?

Supplements:

melatonin (0.2-0.8 mg at night),

a-lipoic acid (200 mg/d),

acetyl-l-carnitine (250 mg/d),

CoQ (maintenance dose 200-400 mg/d)

and vitamin E (400 IU/d).

[parkinsonshereandnow in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Yes. That is what he states in his "Letter to the Editor" (2013).

He affirms that more studies are needed, etc. Although the sample is a single case, it seems hopeful to me for those who have been taking medicines for more than 10 years and that it is compatible with them, except in the case of a different opinion of the doctor of each patient.

Each supplement separately does have abundant general and Parkinson's publications.

---

About Dr. Phillipson in the 2013 interview:

Kirk Hamilton: Can you share with us your educational background and current position?

Oliver T. Phillipson: I am a medical scientist with degrees in Medicine, Surgery and Physiology from Oxford University, United Kingdom. After internships I took a PhD in neuroscience at University of London, followed by postdoctoral position at the MRC Neurochemical Pharmacology Unit, Cambridge, UK, and then a travelling Fellowship at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden...

[Bolt_Upright]

Accepted Manuscript

Title: Alpha-synuclein, epigenetics, mitochondria, metabolism, calcium traffic, and circadian dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. An integrated strategy for management.

Author: Oliver T. Phillipson

sci-hub.ru/10.1016/j.arr.20...

[parkinsonshereandnow in reply to Bolt_Upright]

The 2017 publication in which he adds vitamin D3.

[parkinsonshereandnow]

Frank C. Church mentions Phillipson's work in one of his frequent articles full of valuable information. I continue to learn a lot here and on blogs like Church's. journeywithparkinsons.com/2...

[LAJ12345]

try the combination of Hardys daily essential nutrients and restore gold. Plus coq10 and melatonin. Ticks all the boxes

[Najuris]

About my experience with pramipexole:

I've been diagnosed PD in november2019, confirmed by a SPECT with DATScan test on April 2020.

Since than I'm taking these medication:

Selegiline 5mg /1d

Pramipexole 2,1mg/1d

vitamin B1 (thiamine) 100mg/ 2 intramuscular injection per wk

At the moment I'm not taking carbodopa/levodopa although doctor push me to take it.

As PD and therapy related symptoms I have a variable stiffness on my right leg, sleepiness in the afternoon. All symptoms get worst when I'm stressed or I have a night sleep of less of 7 hours.

I know that by using carbodopa/levodopa I could improve my walking, but at the moment in my evaluation its possible side effects (dyskinesia, insomnia, costipation, etc) are a cost to high for the benefit of a better walking.