What comes to your mind when you think of Parkinson’s Disease? Shaking, tremors, spasms and Michael J. Fox were probably at the top of your list right? There is a lot more to Parkinson’s Disease (PD) than people think as well as many new research discoveries that could lead to effective treatments for this disease. People may know little to nothing about how PD works, so let me take you through a brief description of what is going on in a persons brain and body when they have this disease.
Parkinson’s Disease is a degenerative dissorder of the central nervous system. It usually affects older individuals (over the age of 50) and cannot, as of yet, be cured. PD causes many motor dysfunctions as it is a result of the death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra within the midbrain. This loss of cells causes many visible symptoms in the early stages of this disease such as bradykinesia, resting tremors, rigidity, shaking, slownesss of movement, diffiulty walking, and overall uncontrollable movements. While this dieseae advances, it still shows these visible symptoms but also can start causeing autonomic dysfunction and affecting the persons cognition. Depression is often one of the most common psychiatric symptoms and dementia usually occurs in the later stages of this dissorder. There is a protein called alpha-synuclin, that usually helps in mediating cell death, that gets disrupted and leads to Lewy body formations in the brain.When Lewy bodies form, this is what casues the loss of dopaminergic neurons, which ultimately causes a loss of dopamine release and the symptoms of PD.
There has been tramendous research done to try and find out why this disease occurs and what could be targetted for treatment. In the article we read this week for neurochemistry called “Targeting dysregulation of brain iron homeostatsis in Parkinson’s Disease by iron chelators”, the authors focused on the role that iron plays in people who have PD as well as how understanding brain iron accumulation could lead to a very effective treatment for this disease. Many scientists have discovered that the excess iron accumulation within the brain may be causing a build up of the alpha-synuclein (this is not good!). Because of this researchers are trying to find a way to stop the large accumulation of iron in our brains that happens as we age. In the article the authors discussed something that is still being researched but could slow and or stop the iron accumulation all together. It is something called an iron chelator which is essentially something that binds to iron in the brain and removes it so it does not build up. Researchers think this is a large step to helping treat the high levels of iron found in PD patients and ultimately improving the lives of these individuals living with this disease. These chelator’s are not fully understood yet, but they are something that could help slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
I do not fully understand everything that is going on inside a person’s brain when they have PD, but I do know that it is something we all should be aware of especially while looking at possible treatments for these neurodegenerative diseases, not only PD but also Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. If we are all made aware of what we can do individually to live healthier lives and be educated on the research of these diseases, then maybe one day there will be less people diagnosed with PD (or other degenerative diseases) and more effective treatments for those suffering from them. In class we discussed how drinking green tea may lead to regulating iron levels in the brain. Is it super scientific and 100% effective? Absolutely not. But it could be something we could do in our everyday lives to help lower the levels of iron accumulation in the brain.
Iron Accumulation in Parkinson's Disease
