Apparently parkinson's disease is the result of leaky guts. Leaky guts cause alpha synuclein in the intestines, 2 to 5 years before symptoms of PD appear.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-x-parkinsons-disease-test-1121-20121121,0,1806180.story
i suspect there are other modes of entry too.
Could be. Anyway, I know alpha-synuclein is a protein and proteins don't cross the blood-brain barrier. But if alpha-synuclein can get into the brain via gut/intestines, doesn't this mean that there is a way to get meds into the brain via the same route ?
The misfolded alpha synuclein would be formed in the nerves attached to the intestine and would move up the splanchnic nerve and spinal cord to the brain stem.............at least as far as I can remember from my last reading of my "Do It Yourself: Brain Surgery" book.
Bartobob, thanks for the information. I didn't know that. Anyway, isn't it still possible to make meds get into the brain via that route ? I don't know much about this but seems to me that it might be easier than brain surgery ? For instance ... in case of inserting BDNF or MANF into the brain. If the a-syn protein ends up in the dopamine region, wouldn't neurotrophic factors end up in the same (and therefore correct) region ?
i found this 2009 article quite interesting, not least for showing that much of the recent 'news' has been suspected for several years
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/31/12571.full
it compares a-sync with prions.
Bet you didnt know there was mad ostrich disease?
it wuld be intersting if a-sync directly corrupted good a-sync - the recent article didnt say how the infection spread just that it did.
ps there are big holes in the bbb particularly in the nasal area.
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/31/12571.full
it compares a-sync with prions.
Bet you didnt know there was mad ostrich disease?
it wuld be intersting if a-sync directly corrupted good a-sync - the recent article didnt say how the infection spread just that it did.
ps there are big holes in the bbb particularly in the nasal area.
MisterX...........the misfolded alpha synuclein seems to have the ability to move between neurons via their synaptic junctions.......one of the Parkinsons UK researchers is studying how it does this. It's unlikely that the neurotrophic factors do this trick. They probably work by exciting receptors on the outside of the neurons ......which receptors transduce a signal to turn on or up internal processes.