Less risk of Parkinson's disease after appendicitis

Problems such as constipation, gas and nausea are common in people with Parkinson's disease. It is in this context that researchers began to look for the link between the disease and the bowel disorders.

In patients with Parkinson's disease, clumps in the brain form a defective protein, alpha synuklein. The same protein is also found in the small intestine. Animal experiments show that the protein can travel through the nerve yarns from the intestine to the brain.

Now researchers has examined the data of the Swedish population and discovered a link between the disease and the small intestine.

"We saw that the incidence was lower in those who had cleared the bowel than in a control group that had not performed an appendix," says Daniel Lindqvist, doctor and researcher. in psychiatry at the University of Lund.

The risk has dropped by almost one-fifth. The survey is the largest of its kind. It is based on data from nearly 1.7 million people in the Swedish patient register, which includes diagnoses and data on surgical procedures received by patients since 1964.

Analysis of A smaller US registry also showed that an appendix in younger years delayed the time of diagnosis in people later treated for Parkinson's disease with 3.6 years.

But that does not mean that an operation of appendicitis is a good way to prevent the disease, according to Daniel Lindqvist.

– The small intestine has been perceived as a useless body, but it could well be that there are health victories if the blind bowel is gone, he says.

In addition, it is Rare Parkinson's disease. It concerns only a few tenths of the population. Therefore, major surgery would be required to prevent a single drop in parkinsonism, and any surgical procedure could result in a slight obstruction.

The new study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, can not rule out an unknown factor behind changes in both the intestine and the brain. However, Daniel Lindqvist and his colleagues interpret the results as supporting the idea of ​​a link between intestinal biology and brain biology and hope that they will lead to new treatments.

"You might think of Parkinson's disease that targets the intestine, for example by affecting intestinal flora," said Daniel Lindqvist, who has collaborated with researchers in the United States and several other countries.