DOCUMENT

Parkinson’s might begin in the gut Parkinson’s disease may start in the appendix, not in the brain. This degenerative condition has long been thought to stem from the death of cells in parts of the brain controlling movement, due to the build-up of a protein called synuclein. This clumping spreads along nerves in a chain reaction. Evidence has been growing that this process may begin in gut nerves, possibly in the appendix. Appendix removal seems to be linked with a slightly raised short- term risk of Parkinson’s but a lower long-term risk. “Now Viviane Labrie of the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan and her team have run the largest and longest study on this to date, involving 1.6 million Swedes. Those who had their appendix out as young adults were nearly 20 per cent less likely to have Parkinson’s in later life. Her team also looked at 48 appendixes from people with and without Parkinson’s. Nearly all had synuclein clumps in the nerve fibres ( Science Translational Medicine , doi.org/cwmm) . This “could act as a seed for the disease in the brain”, says Labrie. But it is still unclear why this only happens in some people. © 2018 New Scientist Ltd. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC Recently we held a Special General Meeting to review and approve changes to our Rules and Objects document. A big thank you to Peter Shaw for his feedback and to TGT Legal for their work on developing the document. Please visit neurological.org.nz/who-we-are/about-us/ strategy-and-annual-report/ to download and read the new Rules and Objects document. Headlines 11