Did you know that the bacteria living in your gut might play a role in Parkinson’s disease (PD)? A recent study looked at the gut microbiota (those tiny little critters in your tummy) of people with early PD, REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), their close relatives (RBD-FDR), and healthy individuals. They discovered that the composition of gut bacteria changed in early PD and RBD, with a decrease in friendly, butyrate-producing bacteria and an increase in not-so-friendly, pro-inflammatory Collinsella.
What’s interesting is that these changes in gut microbiota happen during the early stages of PD, before symptoms like RBD even show up. So, understanding our gut buddies might help us learn more about how α-synucleinopathy (a group of brain diseases, including PD) develops. Future research might even explore new ways to keep our gut microbiota happy and healthy, like changing our diets or treating constipation, to help prevent or slow down PD. Now that’s some food for thought!
GIbiome 