Researchers claim Parkinson's disease may start before birth
Kathmandu, January 30
A recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine showed that people who develop Parkinson's disease before age 50 may trace its origin before birth.
As per the Xinhua News, the research showed that those patients may have been born with disordered brain cells that went undetected for decades.
A team of researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center used special stem cells generated from adult blood cells. The researchers induced those stem cells from patients into dopamine neurons and then cultured them in a dish.
The researchers found two abnormalities in those dopamine neurons in the dish—the first one is the accumulation of a protein called alpha-synuclein which occurs in most forms of Parkinson's disease and the second is the malfunctioning cell structures that act as "trash cans" for the cell to break down and dispose of proteins. This malfunction could cause the protein to build up, as per the Xinhua News.
The study also found very first signs of young-onset Parkinson's through the new model.
The researchers also claimed that dopamine neurons in these individuals may continue to mishandle alpha-synuclein over a period of 20 or 30 years, causing Parkinson's symptoms to emerge.
