Serotonin, not dopamine
The earliest signs of Parkinson's disease have been detected
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
A unique group of volunteers helped identify the beginnings of Parkinson's disease many years before the first symptoms appeared. The findings challenge the traditional view of the disease and open up new opportunities for early screening of people at increased risk.
Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. The disease remains incurable and today is most often diagnosed with the appearance of the first obvious symptoms – cognitive impairment and problems with motor functions. Scientists from the UK have managed to detect the beginnings of the disease that occur in the patient's brain long before external signs, according to a press release from King's College London Study reveals the roots of Parkinson's in the brain.
Article by Wilson et al. Serotonergic pathology linked with the premotor phase of A53T α-synuclein parkinsonism and with disease burden: a cross-sectional study published in the journal The Lancet Neurology – VM.
Now the team has provided the first evidence of the central role of serotonin in the brain at the earliest stages. The results showed that changes in the serotonin system occur much earlier than in the dopamine system, which are usually associated with the early stages of the disease.
"Parkinson's disease is traditionally associated with damage to the dopamine system, but we show that first there are disturbances in the regulation of serotonin and this is the key to early diagnosis and treatment," said senior author of the study Marios Politis.
To come to these conclusions, the team studied data from 14 patients with hereditary mutations of the SNCA gene. This rare mutation will almost certainly trigger the development of Parkinson's disease, so researchers have a unique chance to compare these patients with people with a non-genetic form of the disease, as well as healthy participants. Brain imaging was performed using a PET scan.
Observations have shown that a failure in the serotonin system occurs long before the first symptoms of the disease affecting motor function, as well as before the first disturbances in the dopamine system.
Evaluation of serotonin functions should become an effective marker of the development and progression of the disease, the authors believe. In addition, the findings open up new opportunities for the development of new methods of treating the disease, which will slow down, and possibly prevent the further development of neurodegeneration.
According to forecasts, the spread of Parkinson's disease will only increase in the coming years. The main causes of increased risk remain old age, poor lifestyle and polluted environment. Meanwhile in Japan has launched an experiment where patients with Parkinson's disease will be treated with stem cells.
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