Secrets of the shaking palsy

“Parkinson’s disease might have much in common with Alzheimer’s disease, prion diseases and other protein-aggregation disorders… Like many other researchers, Goedert [LMB] now suspects that α-synuclein aggregation is the primary event in Parkinson’s disease — perhaps triggered by toxins or other environmental factors inside the intestines and sinuses. Most of the pathology in the brain appears typically to emanate from the dorsal motor nucleus, which is connected to intestinal neurons via the vagus nerve. In principle, α-synuclein aggregation could spread up this nerve and thereafter into most of the other affected regions.” More…