Parkinson’s May Begin in Gut and Spread to the Brain Via the Vagus Nerve

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Researchers from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital conducted research on Parkinson's disease, a progressive disease of the nervous system that affects movement.
Scientists are still unaware of why some people develop this disease while others do not but based off of this research, they have indicated that Parkinson's disease may begin in the gastrointestinal tract and then spread to the brain via the vagus nerve. Over 15,000 patients between 1970 and 1995 had their vagus nerve severed in their stomach, as this was a common treatment to treat ulcers. If Parkinson's disease does in fact start in the gut and travel via the vagus nerve to the brain, these 15,000 ulcer treatment patients would be exempt from developing the disease.
The results showed that the patients who had their entire vagus nerve severed were protected against Parkinson's and did not develop the disease. However those patients who only had part of their vagus nerve severed were not protected from the disease. This was in line with their hypothesis that the development of the disease is strongly dependent on a fully or partially attached vagus nerve to be able to reach and affect the brain.
It makes sense that Parkinson's would be able to be detected in the gastrointestinal tract because an early sign of Parkinson's is gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation.
In the future, researchers expect to use this knowledge to help identify other onset symptoms of Parkinson's disease and furthermore prevent the disease.

This article captured my attention because my grandfather had Parkinson's. He passed away when I was in fourth grade, before a had a concrete understanding of what Parkinson's was or how it affected the body. I'm glad I was able to read more about this disease and connect my knowledge from class about the vagus nerve to understand more about my grandfather's affliction.

http://neurosciencenews.com/parkinsons-gastrointestinal-tract-neurology-2150/

Comments

  1. Amanda FamularoNovember 26, 2016 at 2:57 PM

    I found this article to be very interesting. We had just learned recently in class that the vagus nerve is involved in the parasympathetic nervous system. This is connected to the gastrointestinal tract and the heart in order to elicit “rest and digest.” The concept of it's connection to Parkinson's Disease is very interesting but slightly vague. Is it an infection in the gastrointestinal tract that travels up the vagus nerve and into the brain? Also, according to this article, severing the vagus nerve would result in protection against Parkinson’s Disease. However, I am curious as to what other complications could arise out of this method of treatment. As we know, the vagus nerve is important to visceral and involuntary bodily functions. Therefore, without it would we have unregulated digestion, heart rate, and other potentially debilitating side effects? Despite these concerns, this is a great finding that will lead us a step closer to finding a cure to this disease.

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  2. UnknownNovember 28, 2016 at 4:00 PM

    To add onto what Amanda said... I suppose, it does make sense that the gastrointestinal tract is deeply affected by the vagus nerve. I would have never thought that removing this entire cranial nerve would protect someone from developing Parkinson’s disease. We previously, learned that someone with Parkinson’s cannot control their movements due to motor tremors. Also, their lack of dopamine results in movements being rigid versus smooth. You stated that constipation is an early sign of Parkinson’s disease; maybe their gastric motility is slower because of this.

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