What is the role of gut microbiota in Parkinson’s disease?

This question will be answered by Dr Filip Scheperjans from Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland during the 3rd World Congress on Targeting Microbiota which will be held at Pasteur Institute on October 21-23, 2015. 

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 1% of the population over 60 years of age. In addition to the classical motor symptoms of the disease, patients suffer from a broad spectrum of non-motor symptoms. About 80% of patients have gastrointestinal dysfunction, most frequently constipation, and these frequently precede the onset of motor symptoms by years. This is associated with neurodegeneration in the enteric nervous system. Recent research suggests that the gastrointestinal tract is actually the first structure to show neurodegeneration in PD and that this degenerative process may subsequently spread to the brainstem via the vagal nerve. Alterations of gut physiology, mucosal permeability, inflammation, and most recently gut microbiome composition have been reported in PD patients and may be relevant for the pathogenesis of the disease. The talk will give an overview of gut pathophysiology in PD and address the possible role of gut microbiota in this context. 

To know more about Targeting Microbiota World Congress: www.microbiota-site.com