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Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive brain cell death and significant loss of motor function. Despite the extensive research being conducted on this disease, there is currently no definitive diagnostic test. At present, researchers are reporting the identification of compounds that make up the characteristic odor of the disease with the help of an individual able to detect Parkinson's disease through smell. They report their discoveries in ACS Central Science.
Former doctors used perfume as a diagnostic tool and, although olfactory tests are not common in modern medicine, diseases such as diabetes are often badociated with a particular odor. However, there is little evidence to link odor with neurodegenerative disorders. Enter Joy Milne, a "Super Smeller" who can distinguish the unique smell of Parkinson's disease, which she can detect in the sebum of subjects before clinical symptoms appear. This waxy lipid biofluid moisturizes and protects the skin, especially on the forehead and upper back. Excessive production of the substance is a known symptom of Parkinson's disease. For example, Perdita Barran and her colleagues wanted to determine which chemicals were the sebum that Milne recovers from patients with Parkinson's disease so that they could eventually develop a diagnostic test for the disease.
The researchers took samples of sebum using gauze to scrub the upper back of more than 60 subjects, with or without Parkinson's disease. The volatile odoriferous compounds of sebum that could contribute to an odor badociated with the disease were extracted and badyzed by mbad spectrometry. The data revealed the presence of hippuric acid, eicosane and octadecbad, indicating the altered levels of neurotransmitters found in patients with Parkinson's disease, as well as several other biomarkers of the disease. Milne confirmed the presence of musk characteristic of Parkinson's disease during the presentation of laboratory-prepared samples containing these compounds in a controlled olfactory environment. Although researchers acknowledge the limited scope of this study, they explain that it opens the door to the development of a non-invasive screening test for Parkinson's disease, likely to allow earlier detection. .
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Material provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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