Diagnosing Parkinson by examining the colon

The gastrointestinal tract is a window to the brain. The idea is surprising. Very disconcerting. Our stomach is yet indeed has its own nervous system. A second brain somehow. With this knowledge, researchers at INSERM have investigated whether the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease could be made by a simple biopsy of the colon. Their promising work is being published in the journal PlosOne.

We know that in recent years neurodegenerative disease, which causes muscle rigidity and tremor, affects not only the brain but all the peripheral nervous systems. Researchers at the University Hospital of Nantes therefore collected samples of 39 people: 29 patients and 10 controls during routine colonoscopic examinations, with the hope of identifying traces of the disease in the enteric nervous system.

And in 21 of 29 patients, they have indeed managed to highlight anomalies in digestive neurons perfectly similar to those identified in brain neurons. More encouraging, they have managed to establish a link between the extent of damage and severity of clinical symptoms. "If our results are confirmed in large scale, it would be possible to diagnose the severity of Parkinson's disease and adjust the treatment and care, " enthusiastic researchers said.

So far, the direct study of brain lesions could not be done in vivo. Thanks for autopsies of dying patients neuronal abnormalities had been identified. The ability to use simple colonoscopies to monitor the development of a brain disease is a kind of a revolution, indeed.

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