http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1223152435.htm

Fat Influences Decisions Taken by Brain Cells for Production and Survival
Dec. 23, 2012 — Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified two molecules that play an important role in the survival and production of nerve cells in the brain, including nerve cells that produce dopamine..., may be significant in the long term for the treatment of several diseases, such as Parkinson's disease.

... receptors known as "liver X receptors" or LXR, are necessary for the production of different types of nerve cells, or neurons, in the developing ventral midbrain. One these types, the midbrain dopamine-producing neurons play an important role in a number of diseases, such as Parkinson's disease.
What was not known, however, was which molecules stimulate LXR in the midbrain, such that the production of new nerve cells could be initiated. ...

These two molecules are named cholic acid and 24,25-EC, and are bile acid and a derivate of cholesterol, respectively. The first molecule, cholic acid, influences the production and survival of neurons in what is known as the "red nucleus," which is important for incoming signals from other parts of the brain. The other molecule, 24,25-EC (cholesterol derivative), influences the generation of new dopamine-producing nerve cells, which are important in controlling movement.
One important conclusion of the study is that 24,25-EC can be used to turn stem cells into midbrain dopamine-producing neurons, the cell type that dies in Parkinson's disease... opens the possibility of using cholesterol derivates in future regenerative medicine, since new dopamine-producing cells created in the laboratory could be used for transplantation to patients with Parkinson's disease.
... Derivatives of cholesterol control the production of new neurons in the developing brain. When such a decision has been taken, cholesterol aids in the construction of these new cells, and in their survival. Thus cholesterol is extremely important for the body, and in particular for the development and function of the brain."

Madelyn... Have you seen the YouTubes by Dr. Mercola where he interviews Dr. Seneff? She discusses how cholesterol is highly important in our bodies, etc. This includes a discussion about Cholesterol sulfate.

Here are some links:
http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/

This is part 1 of 7 videos on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QUChSlUEH0

I just can't recall this morning if you have posted about this in the past. So I am bringing it up again.

I rarely miss your posts, but I do go away on vacation for a long time each summer.

Does all of this begin in the liver, as I read many years ago (I forget where)? But then, the liver can't do it's job if it doesn't have the nutrients it needs, such as good fat.

When one looks at our history, with the burgeoning PD population, did the PD epidemic really begin when people starting shunning fat as "bad", and what fats they did eat were no longer readily available like they had been, but were now corn oil, and worse, trans fats?

Maybe all of this time our brains have been starving for healthy fats, the ones we used to copiously eat not that long ago. As I've posted before, I remember as a youngster eating at my grandparents tables, both sides, and the table was loaded with buttered vegetables (fresh from the backyard garden, everyone had one), rolls slathered with butter, fried chicken, and eggs from the backyard chickens, were used in everything from breakfast to dinner. I have many aunts and uncles and not one of them has PD, now in their 70 and 80s, also no grandparent had PD. Makes one wonder.

The more I learn, the less fearful I am of cholesterol and fat. That tub of ice cream in the freezer isn't really my enemy, after all

interesting article about the role of anticholinergics in the treatment of PD, which includes a rationale for why they are less successful in elderly patients, and also mentions the role of bile. Dated 1999.

http://www.ualberta.ca/~csps/JPPS2(2...holinergic.htm