Bile Acids Serve As A Biomarker In Parkinson's Disease

Bile acid production in the digestive tract can be altered to toxic form by the gut microbiome in patients with Parkinson's disease as per a sweeping new analysis published in the journal Metabolites. Gut microbiome represents the type of useful microbes’ population that reside in the digestive tract. In healthy individuals, bile acid changes are not appreciated. This critical difference suggests that bile acids may be a significant biomarker for early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and further track its progression.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects movement due to loss of nerve cells – neurons that produces a chemical messenger in the brain called dopamine (black substance).

PD is characterized by the formation of inclusion proteins called alpha-synuclein in the form of Lewy bodies. Symptoms include gradual onset of mild tremors in one hand at rest followed by walking and balancing difficulty, memory deterioration, and carrying out other daily activities.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that gut health is tightly linked to brain health. Our findings provide exciting new opportunities for better understanding this relationship and possibly for developing new ways to diagnose -- and even treat -- Parkinson's", says Peipei Li, Ph.D., the study's first author and former postdoctoral fellow in the Labrie Lab.

The team investigated the difference between the microbiome composition of appendix samples from people with Parkinson's and healthy controls with the help of appendix samples using a "multi-omics" approach. The appendix is a frequently maligned bit of tissue having an important role in regulating gut microbes.

Gut Health and Parkinson’s Disease

Higher levels of toxic bile acids correlated with the changes in the microbial composition of the Parkinson's samples. This was supported by an earlier study in Spain where changes in bile acids in the plasma were proven to be associated with Parkinson's disease.

"We demonstrated that not only was there a significant shift in the bile acid metabolism due to changes we induced in the brain but that these compounds have the potential to be used as early blood-based biomarkers of the disease. This is extremely important as this is when treatments are believed to be most effective", says Stewart Graham, Ph.D., director of Metabolomics Research at Beaumont Health.

Of late, there are emerging links between the gut and Parkinson's disease such as, chronic constipation which is often implemented as the earliest signs occurring years or even decades before the onset of hallmark motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Other associations between the gut and Parkinson's disease include the following:

Hepatitis C – a viral infection that affects the liver, is shown to increases the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.

Appendix – a narrow, finger-like pouch projecting out from the colon, is found to play a role of storehouse for clumps of PD- inclusion proteins called alpha-synuclein in both the healthy controls as well as people with Parkinson's disease.

Hence the removal of the appendix is found to reduce the risk of PD by 19-25%, especially when the surgery occurs early in life, even before the onset of the disease.

The present study offesr new avenues for developing effective therapies against Parkinson's-related changes in the gut, that would help slow down or stop the onset of the disease and its progression.

Source-Medindia