Gut Feelings: Parkinson's Disease and the Gut-Brain Axis

Abstract:
Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the US and is classically defined as a motor disorder resulting from loss of neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Multiple studies describe prodromal non-motor symptoms that impact patient quality of life, including gastrointestinal motility disorders (dysphagia, delayed gastric emptying, chronic constipation) that patients may experience decades before the onset of motor symptoms. Lewy Bodies, the histological hallmark of Parkinson's Disease, are comprised of misfolded a-synuclein aggregates and are detected in the enteric nervous system before clinical diagnosis, suggesting the gastrointestinal tract, and its extrinsic neural inputs via the vagus nerve, may play an important role in disease etiology. We have developed a novel environmental model of parkinsonism in which a-synuclein is trafficked from the enteric nervous system to the brainstem, and then to the substantia nigra via a newly discovered nigro-vagal pathway, that may be the means by which ingested environmental pathogens enter the CNS to induce, or accelerate, the progression of Parkinson's Disease.

About the Speaker:
Kirsteen N Browning received her BSc in Pharmacology from the University of Glasgow, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Aberdeen before moving to the United States to conduct postdoctoral research. She has extensively studied the central control of autonomic gastrointestinal functions, with particular emphasis on untangling the remarkable degree of plasticity within vagal neurocircuits controlling gastrointestinal functions. Current studies include investigations into: (i) vagal neuroplasticity in response to diet, including the role of astrocytes in the homeostatic regulation of caloric balance, the effects of diet on neurocircuit development and the role this plays in affecting adult outcomes; (ii) vagal neurocircuit modulation by sex and stress, and (iii) the pivotal role of the vagus in neurological disorders, particularly Parkinson’s Disease

Contact

Nikki Crowley
nzc27@psu.edu