Stress and inflammation may help trigger Parkinson’s disease: study

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Stress and inflammation may help trigger Parkinson’s ********: study

Environmental factors like prolonged stress, chronic inflammation and toxic exposure could play a key role in triggering Parkinson’s ********, even in people without genetic risk, a ********* study has found.

A team from McGill University in Montreal published a paper last month in 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that may have uncovered a new link between the immune system and the development of Parkinson’s ********.

The researchers discovered that an immune response plays a crucial role in forming toxic protein clumps, known as Lewy bodies, within brain cells, contributing to the ********’s progression.

“Our findings suggest anyone can develop Parkinson’s if exposed to the right environment, and so a genetic predisposition to ******** may not be necessary,” said senior author Peter McPherson, professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery and Anatomy and Cell Biology at Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital.

“This marks a significant step forward to understanding key aspects of Parkinson’s and other neurological *********,” he said in a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Story continues below advertisement

Parkinson’s ******** is a progressive neurological disorder that affects movement, often causing tremors, stiffness and difficulty with balance and coordination. It is also the fastest-growing neurological condition worldwide, and that is likely due to an aging population as well as better tools to diagnose ********, explained Angelica Asis, vice-president of research at Parkinson Canada.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

1:49
Potential Parkinson’s breakthrough by SFU scientists

“There are the movement symptoms associated with Parkinson’s. So the tremor with the hands, the rigidity, as well as some slowness of movement,” she told Global News. “But [symptoms also] include constipation, cognitive issues such as challenges with multitasking and brain fog, sleep problems, hallucinations and depression.”

Story continues below advertisement

More than 100,000 Canadians live with Parkinson’s and 30 more are diagnosed every day. As the population ages, the incidence of Parkinson’s is expected to rise, and by 2034, it is projected that 150,048 Canadians will have Parkinson’s, she added.

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

when certain brain cells, called dopamine-producing neurons, start to become damaged and ****. These cells are crucial for smooth movement and coordination and when they’re lost, it leads to shaking, stiffness and difficulty moving, which are common symptoms of Parkinson’s.

The exact reason behind this is still not known, but 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of genetic and environmental factors, such as pesticides, air pollution and industrial chemicals.

There is currently no cure, but there is a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, known as dopamine replacement therapy. However, Asis said there is no therapy approved to slow or stop the neurodegenerative process.

That’s why the McGill University researchers hope their findings will help pave the way for future treatments.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

5:23
Understanding the ******** on World Parkinson’s Day

Trending Now

• ****** Friday Canada: Your ultimate guide to must-shop deals

• ‘Tax holiday’: From Christmas trees to Pokémon cards, what it includes

Lewy bodies are abnormal protein clumps found in the brains of people with Parkinson’s ********. Until now, however, they could only be studied in human neurons after ******, limiting researchers’ ability to fully understand their role in the ********, the study said.

Story continues below advertisement

For the first time, the researchers were able to create lab-grown Lewy bodies in human neurons derived from stem cells. They discovered that a combination of a-synuclein and immune activation was crucial for their formation, specifically targeting dopamine-producing neurons (the brain cells affected in Parkinson’s).

This suggests factors that trigger the immune system, such as chronic inflammation, exposure to toxins or prolonged stress may not only correlate with Parkinson’s, as previous research has found, but drive its development, the researchers said.

Asis stated that exploring the link between inflammation and the development of Parkinson’s is an important piece of the larger puzzle surrounding the many unknowns of the ********.

“Inflammation is under-studied and not very well understood in terms of the role it plays with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s,” she said.

“But now they’re starting to see some inflammatory related cells that are part of that pathway and they’re driving some of these ******** processes. So if one individual is experiencing ongoing or increased inflammation and they develop Parkinson’s, it’s thought that that inflammatory process could have a really important and not very well understood role.”

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

3:16
How can Canadians protect themselves from Parkinson’s ********

The researchers also discovered that Lewy bodies contain additional cell parts. This new insight into what they’re made of, along with the ability to study their formation in real time, could give ***** developers new targets for slowing the progression of Parkinson’s ********, the researchers added.

Story continues below advertisement

“The results support previous research showing that an immune response plays an important role in Parkinson’s development,” Armin Bayati, a PhD candidate in McPherson’s lab and the study’s first author, said in the media release.

“Future studies should focus on understanding how inflammation caused by an overexcited immune system causes Lewy body formation when coupled with α-synuclein.”

More on Health
More videos

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Stress #inflammation #trigger #Parkinsons #******** #study

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up