Parkinson's disease may be caused by a gut bacterium, researchers have said.
Finnish scientists claim that desulfovibrio (DSV) can cause a buildup of toxic proteins which then damage vital brain cells.
This process is thought to cause the characteristic signs of the crippling condition, such as tremors.
Experts today described their findings as 'significant', with academics having spent decades unsuccessfully investigating the cause of Parkinson's.
Researchers at the University of Helsinki believe that DSV, which is found in water, soil and the digestive tract of humans and animals, may play a role in Parkinson's disease.
As part of their study, they took fecal samples from ten Parkinson's patients and their healthy spouses.
Lab tests showed that all of the Parkinson's patients had the bacteria in their feces, along with eight of their partners.
Study author Professor Per Saris, a microbiologist at the university, believes that DSV causes proteins to clump together in intestinal cells, which then 'travel to the brain' via the vagus nerve - the longest cranial nerve in the body, which extends from the stomach to the brain.
The disease is caused primarily by environmental factors, namely environmental exposure to the DSV bacterial strains that cause Parkinson's.
“Only a small proportion, or approximately 10 percent, of Parkinson’s is caused by individual genes.”
Symptoms can include uncontrollable tremors, slow movements and muscle stiffness, but experts say they often only appear when around 80 percent of nerve cells have been lost.
These nerve cells produce dopamine, a chemical messenger that helps control body movement.
If these are damaged or die, dopamine levels decrease and movements become slow and abnormal. /Shqip.com
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