The Neural Gut-Brain Axis of Pathological Protein Aggregation in Parkinson's Disease and Its Counterpart in Peroral Prion Infections.

ABSTRACT: A neuropathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD) is the cerebral deposition of abnormally aggregated α-synuclein (αSyn). PD-associated αSyn (αSynPD) aggregates are assumed to act, in a prion-like manner, as proteinaceous nuclei ("seeds") capable of self-templated propagation. Braak and colleagues put forward the idea of a neural gut-brain axis mediating the centripetal spread of αSynPD pathology from the enteric nervous system (ENS) to the brain in PD. This has sparked great interest and initiated passionate discussions both in support of and opposing the suggested hypothesis. A precedent for the spread of protein seeds or seeding from the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract to the central nervous system (CNS) had been previously revealed for pathological prion protein in peroral prion in

SUBMITTER: Beekes M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8310171 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature