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Study uncovers mechanism behind loss of smell in Parkinson's patients

Study uncovers mechanism behind loss of smell in Parkinson's patients
Credit: Society for Neuroscience

Parkinson's disease is an illness well known for its motor symptoms—tremor, stiffness, and slowness of movement. In a new paper published inThe Journal of Neuroscienceand featured on its cover, researchers at Yale School of Medicine have uncovered the biological mechanism behind another common, but less studied symptom—the loss of smell.

About 75%–90% of Parkinson's patients report diminishing, even prior to the onset of, and is now recognized a non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease.

Researchers at the Greer Lab and Chandra Lab at Yale School of Medicine determined the biological mechanisms behind this olfactory impairment by using an alpha-synuclein A30P mouse model used to mimic symptoms of Parkinson's in mice.

Using buried food tests, the researchers found that the mice with later stage symptoms of Parkinson's disease exhibited olfactory impairment. They found that those mice with olfactory deficits exhibited severe pathology in projection neurons of the olfactory pathway. They also found these mice showed reduced neurogenesis in the. In contrast, studies have shown that healthy aging brains continue to form new neurons in the olfactory bulb throughout life.

Parkinson's patients had been reporting diminishing sense of smell for years, says corresponding author, Charles Greer, Ph.D., vice chair of research at the department of neurosurgery and professor of neuroscience at the Yale School of Medicine. However, since the motor symptoms of the disease were more debilitating, very little research had been done to understand the underlyingof the olfactory dimension.

"We are excited to begin to understand the basis of anosmia in Parkinson's disease patients," says Sreeganga Chandra, Ph.D., associate professor of neurology and neuroscience.

"We set out to understand the nature of a symptom that's associated with Parkinson's disease that's been largely anecdotal. People that are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease would reportup to 10 years before their diagnosis. These findings could help in developing a very early diagnostic tool for the disease," says Dr. Greer.

更多的信息:Eduardo Martin-Lopez et al, α-Synuclein Pathology and Reduced Neurogenesis in the Olfactory System Affect Olfaction in a Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease,The Journal of Neuroscience(2023).DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1526-22.2022

Journal information: Journal of Neuroscience

Provided byYale University
Citation: Study uncovers mechanism behind loss of smell in Parkinson's patients (2023, April 21) retrieved 22 April 2023 from //www.pyrotek-europe.com/news/2023-04-uncovers-mechanism-loss-parkinson-patients.html
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