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could be thanks Maryse Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] -------------------------------------------------- From: "mschild" <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 12:08 AM To: <[log in to unmask]> Subject: more on guts >> Subject: more on guts > >> September 02, 2009 >> A kick in the guts for Parkinson's disease:=20 >> Your gut has its own neural network. Called the enteric nervous system, = >> it controls digestion and has as many neurons as the spinal cord. >> >> Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder that has been long associated = >> with stomach upsets. These were often explained away as due to poor diet >> = >> or stress, but it seems increasingly likely that the disease may also be >> = >> affecting the neurons in the digestive system. >> >> It was originally thought just to destroy dopamine neurons in a deep = >> brain structure called the nigrostriatal pathway, an effect which causes >> = >> the distinctive movement problems, but it has become clear that the = >> disorder causes damage throughout the nervous system via the formation = >> of protein clumps called Lewy bodies. >> >> A new article in European Journal of Neuroscience suggests that = >> Parkinson disease affects the enteric nervous system, which might tie = >> together some curious findings in the medical literature that have = >> remained unexplained for many years. >> >> Stomach upsets, swallowing and digestion problems have long been = >> associated with Parkinson's but it has never really been clear why. >> >> While we commonly think of it purely in mechanical terms, digestion is = >> remarkably complex process and the enteric nervous system is involved in >> = >> the careful regulation of the muscle ripples of the gut, secretion of = >> digestive fluids and blood flow to aid absorption. >> >> Damage to this system would cause exactly the sorts of problems that = >> have been reported in Parkinson's disease patients and this fits with = >> some previous findings that have been ignored for many years. >> >> Until recently, only one study had investigated whether the enteric = >> nervous system was damaged in Parkinson's patients. It found that large = >> numbers of the gut's dopamine neurons seemed to be missing in patients = >> with the disorder. >> >> The next study appeared more than ten years later, this time looking for >> = >> protein clumps in the gut of deceased patients, and found evidence that = >> not only were these tell-tale signs present, but that the distribution = >> suggested that neurons in the gut may be the first to be damaged. >> >> The author of this study, neuroscientist Heiko Braak now proposes the = >> radical idea that while we know part of the risk for Parkinson's is = >> genetic, maybe an environmental trigger - a virus - could get into the = >> nervous system via the stomach, eventually triggering the brain changes = >> that lead to the debilitating tremors and movement problems. >> >> >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn