- According to a recent study, Parkinson’s disease may result from a failure of neuronal cells’ normal house-cleaning function.
- One of the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease is a buildup of degraded proteins in brain synapses that may eventually create areas of dead neurons.
- The study in Drosophila, fruit flies, found that a surge of calcium in healthy brain synapses initiates the cleaning process by triggering a protein responsible for cells that discard the debris.
- However, when a gene mutation already associated with Parkinson’s is present, the protein does not respond properly to calcium’s signal, and synaptic cleanup fails to occur.
A gene mutation associated with Parkinson’s disease interrupts brain cells’ normal process for disposing of degraded proteins, according to a recent study. The result is a buildup of debris in synapses that may cause Parkinson’s symptoms.
In a study of Drosophila, fruit flies, researchers demonstrated that the release of calcium in neurons triggers autophagy — cell house-cleaning — and that the gene mutation inhibits this release.
Abnormal clumps of proteins called Lewy bodies, consisting primarily of clumps of the protein
According to Biogen’s Dr. Warren D. Hirst, the hypothesis that a failure in autophagy results in Parkinson’s is not new. However, the new study documents, step-by-step, the possible players and mechanics behind autophagy’s failure. (Dr. Hirst was not involved in the study.)
The research is published in
Parkinson’s disease is the second-most frequently diagnosed neurodegenerative disease, following Alzheimer’s disease. There are nearly one million people in the United States living with Parkinson’s, and the…
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