Parkinson's on a cold head

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world: the number of sufferers from this disease exceeds 10 million people. Parkinson's disease leads to a decrease in the number of dopaminergic neurons that control motor function. As a result, coordination of movements is disrupted in patients, neuropsychiatric disorders appear.

The disease is accompanied by the accumulation of aggregates of a specific protein alpha-synuclein and chronic inflammation in brain tissues.

Scientists from the University of Queensland have found that in mice suffering from Parkinson's disease, alpha-synuclein aggregates contribute to the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes in the microglia of the brain. Inflammasomes are shown in green in the figure, and the cells of the immune system in the brain tissues that produce them are shown in red.

The researchers also found that with daily oral administration of a substance called MSS950, the activation of inflammasomes stops in rodents, which leads to a decrease in inflammation, and the motor functions of experimental animals improve.

To date, no effective cure for Parkinson's disease has been developed. Numerous available drugs are aimed only at relieving symptoms, and not at treating the disease itself. Scientists hope that their approach to Parkinson's disease from the cells of the immune system will stop the death of neurons and thereby improve the prognosis for patients.

Article by Gordon et al. Inflammasome inhibition prevents α-synuclein pathology and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in mice is published in Science Translational Medicine.

Anastasia Poznyak, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru / based on the materials of The University of Queensland: Cooling 'brains on fire' to treat Parkinson's.