Stress leads to exhaustion: scientists talk about the causes of Parkinson's disease
According to the Brain Institute of the Federal State Budgetary Budgetary Institution "Scientific Center of Neurology", the prevalence of Parkinson's disease in Russia is one case per 120 thousand population. This is not much, but if the trend continues, the number of these patients will quadruple by 2050. Scientists consider long-term occupation to be one of the likely causes of Parkinson's disease, to which a person has no inclination. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
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The Brain Institute of the Scientific Center of Neurology conducts research, one of the goals of which is to determine the factors of aging of the human body and the brain at the morphological level. Scientists analyze the markers of aging of the body and determine the degree of influence of modern technologies and lifestyle on humans, as well as the causes of Parkinson's disease in humans.
According to the data obtained, there are 1-2% of patients among people aged 65-75 years, and 3% among patients over 75 years of age. Recently, there have been more and more patients, and they are getting younger: people under the age of 50 are becoming more common among them. This disease is characterized by tremor and distracted attention, impaired coordination. It affects the brain imperceptibly, and 10-20 years pass from its origin to its manifestation.
For the first time, the scientific community learned about Parkinson's disease in the spring of 1817, when James Parkinson described the symptoms of six different passers-by in his book "Essay on Tremor Palsy." A lover of hiking, he noticed people on the streets of London who were characterized by stiffness in movements, tremors and mobile facial expressions. Many years later, the fact of the disease's existence will be recognized, its danger will be scientifically justified and they will begin to investigate.
— Parkinson's disease is localized in the dopaminergic neurons of the midbrain, the so—called substantia nigra, which send impulses to another part of the brain, the system of subcortical basal ganglia responsible for coordinating movement. The destruction of these neurons leads to a decrease in the inhibition of motor neurons in the spinal cord and muscle tremor occurs at rest — characteristic movements in patients. These neurons can undergo degeneration in a genetically determined manner, or they can also occur when blood flow disorders occur, such as brain ischemia," says Irina Mukhina, PhD, Head of the Department of Normal Physiology and director of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine at Privolzhsky Research Medical University.
Parkinson's with the intestines in unison
Doctors say that 40-year-olds can be found among the patients. This phenomenon is associated with improved early medical diagnosis and better detection of diseases.
Parkinson's disease is associated with a combination of genetic predisposition, exposure to external factors (for example, pesticides and heavy metals) and organic age-related brain changes. About 10% of patients have a family history, that is, a genetic predisposition to the disease, but this cannot be absolutely confirmed, since the exact genes have not yet been determined. Neurologists say there are two scientific theories about the primary localization of Parkinson's disease in the body.
— The accumulation of alpha-synuclein protein in neurons plays a key role in the development of the disease, which leads to the formation of Lewy bodies and cell death. Additionally, the hypotheses of oxidative stress and mitochondrial disorders are considered. There is also an intestinal theory of the occurrence of the disease, it is also called the Braak hypothesis. According to her, the pathological process can begin in the neurons of the gastrointestinal tract, where alpha-synuclein aggregation occurs under the influence of infections or toxins. This pathology spreads to the brain through the vagus nerve, reaching the substantia nigra in about 10-15 years," says neurologist Oybek Erkin-ugli Turgunkhuzhaev.
According to the Braak classification accepted in the medical community, Parkinson's disease has six stages in total. In the early, first and second stages, the olfactory bulb, the nuclei of the medulla oblongata and the autonomic plexuses of the intestine are affected, which explains the early non-motor symptoms such as loss of sense of smell and constipation.
— At the third stage, the pathology reaches the black substance and the blue spot, which leads to the death of dopamine neurons and the appearance of motor disorders with the loss of about 80% of cells. In the late stages (4-6), the cerebral cortex is involved with the development of dementia and severe motor defects," says Sergey Illarioshkin, director of the Brain Institute at the Scientific Center of Neurology.
The first pathological changes appear long before clinical manifestations, and the destruction of neurons of the substantia nigra begins 10-15 years before the manifestation of the disease, which corresponds to the third stage of the Attack, scientists believe.
— The long preclinical period is due to the slow upward spread of α-synuclein from the intestine through the vagus nerve, which is confirmed by animal experiments. However, about 30% of cases do not fit into this model, which indicates the heterogeneity of the disease, says Turgunkhuzhaev.
There are various forms of the disease: tremulous, rigid-tremulous and akinetic-rigid, and the disease is classified by age of onset — juvenile, with early and late onset. It usually takes 10-15 years from the appearance of the first changes to the manifestation, so the diagnosis is often made already at advanced stages.
The existing theory of Parkinson's prevention as all or many neurodegenerative diseases boils down to proper nutrition, stress on cognitive brain functions and physical activity. However, at the same time, the question arises, what external factors influence the onset of the disease in the body? The scientists surveyed agree that the cause of the disease, among other things, is overexertion of all brain systems.
Do your job and you can safely avoid Parkinson's.
There are a number of diseases against which Parkinson's disease develops not just more often, but significantly more often, scientists say.
— First, anxiety and anxiety, then depression develops, restless legs syndrome — all these diseases are strongly associated with Parkinson's disease, — says Irina Mukhina, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Department of Normal Physiology, Director of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine of the Volga Research Medical University.
Among the preventive measures, scientists name physical activity, proper nutrition, adequate sleep and brain activities, such as reading complex literature.
Parkinson's disease can also be brought closer by external factors that cause enormous stress on all neural systems of the brain, which, in turn, are associated with an incorrect choice of profession or lifestyle, doctors say. Ideally, for the human brain in the first years of life, it is necessary to conduct so—called proteomic profiling - an in-depth analysis of proteins to determine the biological processes of diseases and determine the predisposition of the brain to a particular disease using hundreds of molecules.
— Many people are forced to engage in activities they don't need as a child. The child does not like music, but he is forced to study from under a stick, and the child obeys. That's the source of stress. In adulthood, he finds an unloved activity, not realizing what a source of stress it is. Long—term involvement in other things carries serious psychopathological consequences, including Parkinson's disease," sums up Sergey Illarioshkin.
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