(Press-News.org) GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Reversing inflammation in the fluid surrounding the brain's cortex may provide a solution to the complex riddle of Parkinson's, according to researchers who have found a link between pro-inflammatory biomarkers and the severity of symptoms such as fatigue, depression and anxiety in patients with the chronic disease.
Lena Brundin of Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine was part of a research team that measured inflammatory markers found in cerebrospinal fluid samples of Parkinson's patients and members of a control group.
"The degree of neuroinflammation was significantly associated with more severe depression, fatigue, and cognitive impairment even after controlling for factors such as age, gender and disease duration," said Brundin, an associate professor in the college and a researcher with the Van Andel Institute.
"By investigating associations between inflammatory markers and non-motor symptoms we hope to gain further insight into this area, which in turn could lead to new treatment options."
The results of the study were published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
Inflammation in the brain long has been suspected to be involved in the development of Parkinson's disease, specifically in non-motor symptoms such as depression, fatigue and cognitive impairment. Recent research suggests inflammation could drive cell death and that developing new drugs that target this inflammation might slow disease progression.
Parkinson´s disease is the second most common degenerative disorder of the central nervous system; the causes of the disease and its development are not yet fully understood.
"The few previous studies investigating inflammatory markers in the cerebrospinal fluid of Parkinson's patients have been conducted on comparatively small numbers of subjects, and often without a healthy control group for comparison," Brundin said.
In the study, 87 Parkinson's patients were enrolled between 2008 and 2012. For the control group, 37 individuals were recruited. Participants underwent a general physical exam and routine blood screening. Researchers looked at the following markers: C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, eotaxin, interferon gamma-induced protein-10, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and macrophage inflammatory protein 1-β.
The study was carried out in collaboration with researchers from Lund University in Sweden, Skåne University Hospital in Sweden and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Florida.
INFORMATION:
Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.
Brain inflammation linked to more severe Parkinson's symptoms
Study analyzes biomarkers in fluid near brain cortex
2013-08-29
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Study shows mindfulness training can help reduce teacher stress and burnout
2013-08-29
MADISON, Wis. – Teachers who practice "mindfulness" are better able to reduce their own levels of stress and prevent burnout, according to a new study conducted by the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center.
The results of the study, led by Assistant Scientist Lisa Flook, were recently published in the journal Mind, Brain and Education.
Mindfulness, a notion that stems from centuries-old meditative traditions and is now taught in a secular way, is a technique to heighten attention, empathy and other pro-social ...
Wake up and smell the reef: Fish larvae sniff their way back home
2013-08-29
VIDEO:
A study led by University of Miami scientist Claire Paris, which appears in the Aug. 28 edition of PLOS ONE, was designed to test the response of larvae in a...
Click here for more information.
MIAMI – August 28, 2013 --How tiny fish larvae travel away from the reef, then know how to navigate their way back home is a scientific mystery.
A new study led by Dr. Claire Paris, Professor at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science ...
Wildfires projected to worsen with climate change
2013-08-29
Cambridge, Mass. – August 28, 2013 – Research by environmental scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) brings bad news to the western United States, where firefighters are currently battling dozens of fires in at least 11 states.
The Harvard team's study suggests wildfire seasons by 2050 will be about three weeks longer, up to twice as smoky, and will burn a wider area in the western states. The findings are based on a set of internationally recognized climate scenarios, decades of historical meteorological data, and records of past ...
LSU research responsible for naming 15 new species of Amazonian birds
2013-08-29
An international team of researchers coordinated by ornithologist Bret Whitney of the LSU Museum of Natural Science, or LSUMNS, recently published 15 species of birds previously unknown to science. The formal description of these birds has been printed in a special volume of the "Handbook of the Birds of the World" series. Not since 1871 have so many new species of birds been introduced under a single cover, and all 15 discoveries involve a current or former LSU researcher or student.
"Birds are, far and away, the best-known group of vertebrates, so describing a large ...
Milky Way gas cloud causes multiple images of distant quasar
2013-08-29
For the first time, astronomers have seen the image of a distant quasar split into multiple images by the effects of a cloud of ionized gas in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Such events were predicted as early as 1970, but the first evidence for one now has come from the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope system.
The scientists observed the quasar 2023+335, nearly 3 billion light-years from Earth, as part of a long-term study of ongoing changes in some 300 quasars. When they examined a series of images of 2023+335, they noted dramatic ...
ORNL-grown oxygen 'sponge' presents path to better catalysts, energy materials
2013-08-29
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new oxygen "sponge" that can easily absorb or shed oxygen atoms at low temperatures. Materials with these novel characteristics would be useful in devices such as rechargeable batteries, sensors, gas converters and fuel cells.
Materials containing atoms that can switch back and forth between multiple oxidation states are technologically important but very rare in nature, says ORNL's Ho Nyung Lee, who led the international research team that published its findings in Nature Materials. ...
Space laser to prove increased broadband possible
2013-08-29
When NASA's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) begins operation aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., it will attempt to show two-way laser communication beyond Earth is possible, expanding the possibility of transmitting huge amounts of data. This new ability could one day allow for 3-D High Definition video transmissions in deep space to become routine.
"The goal of the LLCD experiment is to validate and build confidence in this technology so that future ...
Biodiversity in Ontario's Great Lakes region may be greater than we thought
2013-08-29
This news release is available in French. Branched Bartonia (Bartonia paniculata), a threatened species, is a spindly annual plant that grows to 40 cm tall and has tiny white flowers. Researchers at Trent University compared genetic data from the two geographically distinct populations of this small wetland plant, and found that the Muskoka, Ontario ones are genetically very different from a core population found in New York State, 600 km away. This discovery suggests that the Branched Bartonia in Ontario is genetically unique, and therefore under a much greater threat ...
NASA's SDO mission untangles motion inside the sun
2013-08-29
Using an instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, called the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, or HMI, scientists have overturned previous notions of how the sun's writhing insides move from equator to pole and back again, a key part of understanding how the dynamo works. Modeling this system also lies at the heart of improving predictions of the intensity of the next solar cycle.
Using SDO, scientists see a performance of explosions and fountains on the solar surface. Shots of solar material leap into the air. Dark blemishes called sunspots grow, combine and ...
Pain relief technique cuts hospital stay by one-third for some surgical patients
2013-08-29
Chicago (August 28, 2013)—Surgeons at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, are working to reduce serious complications that have been known to occur with colorectal operations. In addition to using a set of pre-and postoperative standards that speed recovery which they have been publishing on for more than a decade, the researchers have validated yet another step surgeons can take to further reduce patients' hospital stays: adding a procedure called the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block to patients' surgical care. The results of their study appear ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Protection against winter vomiting bug spread with arrival of agriculture
Key nervous system components shown to influence gastrointestinal tumour growth
A food tax shift could save lives – without a price hike in the average shopping basket
Development of new candidate agent for lethal and severe cutaneous drug reaction
Teenagers and young adults who use cannabis have a higher risk of progressing to regular tobacco use
Baltic countries lead the way in supporting media freedom internationally, according to new index
New center aims to make the future of trauma survivors brighter
Research-backed defense of DEI programs published today
From sewage to super soil: Dual breakthrough in phosphorus recycling unveiled by Chinese research teams
Sustainable use of woody biochar boosts soil carbon and crop yields in pepper fields
Smart hormone technologies could help sugarcane survive droughts and floods
Updated CPR guidelines released for pediatric and neonatal emergency care and resuscitation
Psilocybin plus mindfulness shows promise for healthcare worker depression
New study documents functional extinction of two critically endangered coral species following record heatwave in Florida
UC Irvine researchers find new Alzheimer’s mechanism linked to brain inflammation
Ancient stone tools trace Paleolithic Pacific migration
New ‘molecular dam’ stops energy leaks in nanocrystals
Hidden toxins in e-cigarette fluids may harm lung cells
Ancient Mediterranean origin of the “London Underground Mosquito”
Functional extinction of Florida’s reef-building corals following the 2023 marine heatwave
Duck-billed dinosaur “mummies” preserve fleshy hide and hooves in thin layers of clay
Fatty winter snacks may trick the body into packing on the pounds
Hitchhiking DNA picked up by gene, saves a species from extinction
Cellarity publishes framework for discovery of cell state-correcting medicines in Science
Peatlands’ ‘huge reservoir’ of carbon at risk of release
Dinosaurs in New Mexico thrived until the very end, study shows
Miniscule wave machine opens big scientific doors
Sanger Institute: Origins of the ‘London Underground mosquito’ uncovered, shedding light on West Nile virus transmission
Global study reveals tempo of invasive species‘ impacts
Study uncovers origins of urban human-biting mosquito, sheds light on uptick in West Nile virus spillover from birds to humans
[Press-News.org] Brain inflammation linked to more severe Parkinson's symptomsStudy analyzes biomarkers in fluid near brain cortex