[Conductor71]

Light pollution as a cause of PD?!? Seems crazy, and this study was on rats- take it with a grain of salt, right? Take a look at that epidemiology map we know so well sized up against a light pollution map (fig 6). It is somewhat intriguing given that it is mainly the pigmented neurons in our brains are hit hardest in the locus coereleus and substantia nigra.

This provides a strong epidemiological argument that our pineal gland is key to unlocking the mystery of PD. Here is a short list of other findings supporting the role of neuromelanin (produced by the pineal gland):

PMCID: PMC3589725
Bright light exposure reduces TH-positive dopamine neurons: implications of light pollution in Parkinson's disease epidemiology

Essentially they are saying that artificial light exposure results in production of too much dopamine and in turn like six times more neuromelanin and cellular oxidation leading to cell death.

Other evidence:

Iron is essential for changing dopamine to neuromelanin. The
PD brain has an over abundance of this too.

As a matter of fact, iron is most abundant in areas that are rich in dopaminergic neurons, namely the globus pallidus, putamen, and substantia nigra of the basal ganglia.

Evidence that light therapy (blue light) is effective in PD (in studies) because it suppresses melanin production.

Research now showing there are seasonal fluctuations to dopa levels produced and hints that our season of birth may prime us for PD later in life.

This has intriguing implications as to why are all susceptible to Vitamin D deficiency, doesn't it?

Any other thoughts? Rick does this show correlation to latitude?

[lurkingforacure]

Originally Posted by Conductor71

Light pollution as a cause of PD?!? Seems crazy, and this study was on rats- take it with a grain of salt, right? Take a look at that epidemiology map we know so well sized up against a light pollution map (fig 6). It is somewhat intriguing given that it is mainly the pigmented neurons in our brains are hit hardest in the locus coereleus and substantia nigra.

This provides a strong epidemiological argument that our pineal gland is key to unlocking the mystery of PD. Here is a short list of other findings supporting the role of neuromelanin (produced by the pineal gland):

PMCID: PMC3589725
Bright light exposure reduces TH-positive dopamine neurons: implications of light pollution in Parkinson's disease epidemiology

Essentially they are saying that artificial light exposure results in production of too much dopamine and in turn like six times more neuromelanin and cellular oxidation leading to cell death.

Other evidence:

Iron is essential for changing dopamine to neuromelanin. The
PD brain has an over abundance of this too.

As a matter of fact, iron is most abundant in areas that are rich in dopaminergic neurons, namely the globus pallidus, putamen, and substantia nigra of the basal ganglia.

Evidence that light therapy (blue light) is effective in PD (in studies) because it suppresses melanin production.

Research now showing there are seasonal fluctuations to dopa levels produced and hints that our season of birth may prime us for PD later in life.

This has intriguing implications as to why are all susceptible to Vitamin D deficiency, doesn't it?

Any other thoughts? Rick does this show correlation to latitude?

So what about all the hours upon hours we spend on the computer, ugh! Maybe this is one reason computer programmers are one of the groups with higher stats for getting PD? and, to top it off, they are now giving the kids iPads to use in the schools....first and second graders....the kids are wondering what the teacher is for and the parents are wondering what kind of damage the iPads are doing to our kids eyes...and now brains...

[soccertese]

links?
haven't seen that tidbit before. and as far as more cases of pd near cities, that's where the neuros are too and where i assume people with healthcare problems tend to move to.

customer support representatives probably spend more time in front of a computer screen than programmers, plus programmers might just be more likely to seek a diagnosis with likely pretty decent healthcare benefits and better education.
but regardless, interesting theory.

[reverett123]

I become more convinced that the period of the Industrial Revolution and particularly around London holds some valuable clues. First, the typical image of a PWP of that era is NOT the same image of today. The victim of that time "turned to stone". Thanks to ldopa, those of our era end up dancing and jerking around. Yet, most talk in terms of references to tremor in ancient texts as evidence of an equally aged origin for PD. If I may slip into my "Spock" persona a moment: "Highly illogical, Captain."

A lot of things happened during that period. A veritable tsunami of change and all centered on London. And we all know that we PWPs thrive on change, don't we?

Among the changes was the introduction of artificial light and the night shift workforce. For the first time there were people who never saw blue sky nor felt the sun upon their skin.

[Conductor71]

Originally Posted by soccertese

links?
haven't seen that tidbit before. and as far as more cases of pd near cities, that's where the neuros are too and where i assume people with healthcare problems tend to move to.

customer support representatives probably spend more time in front of a computer screen than programmers, plus programmers might just be more likely to seek a diagnosis with likely pretty decent healthcare benefits and better education.
but regardless, interesting theory.

I think they are really onto something here. This finding was entirely serendipitous which lends further credibility to me- absolutely no underlying bias.

Most of what I have listed is either explained and supported in the article link, but here are a few more resources. The following on the pineal gland used to be free full text, but frankly abstracts are so detailed that you do not read much beyond them. Did you see the maps in fig. 6? Not saying this is sole cause of PD but it certainly may be a key player.


Seasonality of striatal dopamine synthesis capacity in Parkinson's disease.

Further, Willis et al. have long term studies showing PD patients gained symptomatic benefits and reduced med intake following one hour of light therapy each night before bed. The data is pretty supportive but the study needs to replicated in a double blinded study to really gain ground.

Parkinson's disease as a neuroendocrine disorder of circadian function: dopamine-melatonin imbalance and the visual system in the genesis and progression of the degenerative process.

Please see the light therapy thread for the other article chronicling the light therapy experiments with PD patients.

[Conductor71]

Originally Posted by lurkingforacure

So what about all the hours upon hours we spend on the computer, ugh! Maybe this is one reason computer programmers are one of the groups with higher stats for getting PD? and, to top it off, they are now giving the kids iPads to use in the schools....first and second graders....the kids are wondering what the teacher is for and the parents are wondering what kind of damage the iPads are doing to our kids eyes...and now brains...

I don't think this applies to all sources of artificial light. Based on the article it has more to do with the wavelength. So incandescent might be better than fluorescent light, for example.

Not only do kids spend an inordinate amount of time in schools under artificial light I can think of school districts where in driving through you rarely ever see kids outside playing as there are any number of electronic distractions like Playstation and Wii in addition to tablets.

It remains to be seen what repercussions there are to all this newer technology; cell phones show to control neurons so all of this merits further study, IMHO. Regardless, it looks as if letting technology steamroll us is not such a good idea.

[lurkingforacure]

Originally Posted by soccertese

links?
haven't seen that tidbit before. and as far as more cases of pd near cities, that's where the neuros are too and where i assume people with healthcare problems tend to move to.

customer support representatives probably spend more time in front of a computer screen than programmers, plus programmers might just be more likely to seek a diagnosis with likely pretty decent healthcare benefits and better education.
but regardless, interesting theory.

I read long ago that PWP were higher in three categories:

1. computer programmers (I know many and can tell you that there is no way anyone spends more time in front of a screen that a real programmer....the top guys/gals, spend 16-20 hours at a time, they need to get into "the groove" and when they do, they do amazing things but now I am wondering at what cost...talk about messing with one's circadian rhythm)...probably hard-core gamers fall into this category as well since they get into the game and can be in it for days!

2. clergy

3. teachers

The only thing I could come up with that is common to all three, in my experience, is that the people I know in these categories are kinder and have much more compassion for their fellow man than the average person on the street. Hard to explain but that's the best way I can put it.

This was years ago so I don't know if I can find a link confirming but if I do, I'll post it.

[VICTORIALOU]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0425142430.htm

Longer Days Bring 'Winter Blues' -- For Rats, Not Humans

Apr. 25, 2013 — Most of us are familiar with the "winter blues," the depression-like symptoms known as "seasonal affective disorder," or SAD, that occurs when the shorter days of winter limit our exposure to natural light and make us more lethargic, irritable and anxious. But for rats it's just the opposite.

Biologists at UC San Diego have found that rats experience more anxiety and depression when the days grow longer. More importantly, they discovered that the rat's brain cells adopt a new chemical code when subjected to large changes in the day and night cycle, flipping a switch to allow an entirely different neurotransmitter to stimulate the same part of the brain.

Their surprising discovery, detailed in the April 26 issue of Science, demonstrates that the adult mammalian brain is much more malleable than was once thought by neurobiologists. Because rat brains are very similar to human brains, their finding also provides a greater insight into the behavioral changes in our brain linked to light reception. And it opens the door for new ways to treat brain disorders such as Parkinson's, caused by the death of dopamine-generating cells in the brain.

The neuroscientists discovered that rats exposed for one week to 19 hours of darkness and five hours of light every day had more nerve cells making dopamine, which made them less stressed and anxious when measured using standardized behavioral tests. Meanwhile, rats exposed for a week with the reverse -- 19 hours of light and five hours of darkness -- had more neurons synthesizing the neurotransmitter somatostatin, making them more stressed and anxious.

"We're diurnal and rats are nocturnal," said Nicholas Spitzer, a professor of biology at UC San Diego and director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind. "So for a rat, it's the longer days that produce stress, while for us it's the longer nights that create stress."

Because rats explore and search for food at night, while humans evolved as creatures who hunt and forage during the daylight hours, such differences in brain chemistry and behavior make sense. Evolutionary changes presumably favored humans who were more active gatherers of food during the longer days of summer and saved their energy during the shorter days of winter.

"Light is what wakes us up and if we feel depressed we go for a walk outside," said Davide Dulcis, a research scientist in Spitzer's laboratory and the first author of the study. "When it's spring, I feel more motivation to do the things I like to do because the days are longer. But for the rat, it's just the opposite. Because rats are nocturnal, they're less stressed at night, which is good because that's when they can spend more time foraging or eating."

But how did our brains change when humans evolved millions of years ago from small nocturnal rodents to diurnal creatures to accommodate those behavioral changes?

"We think that somewhere in the brain there's been a change," said Spitzer. "Sometime in the evolution from rat to human there's been an evolutionary adjustment of circuitry to allow switching of neurotransmitters in the opposite direction in response to the same exposure to a balance of light and dark."

A study published earlier this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found some correlation to the light-dark cycle in rats and stress in humans, at least when it comes to people searching on the internet for information in the winter versus the summer about mental illness. Using Google's search data from 2006 to 2010, a team of researchers led by John Ayers of San Diego State University found that mental health searches on Google were, in general, 14 percent higher in the winter in the United States and 11 percent higher in the Australian winter.

"Now that we know that day length can switch transmitters and change behavior, there may be a connection," said Spitzer.

In their rat experiments, the UC San Diego neuroscientists found that the switch in transmitter synthesis in the rat's brain cells from dopamine to somatostatin or back again was not due to the growth of new neurons, but to the ability of the same neurons there to produce different neurotransmitters.

Rats exposed to 19 hours of darkness every 24 hours during the week showed higher numbers of dopamine neurons within their brains and were more likely, the researchers found, to explore the open end of an elevated maze, a behavioral test showing they were less anxious. These rats were also more willing to swim, another laboratory test that showed they were less stressed.

"Because rats are nocturnal animals, they like to explore during the night and dopamine is a key part of our and their reward system," said Spitzer. "It's part of what allows them to be confident and reduce anxiety."

The researchers said they don't know precisely how this neurotransmitter switch works. Nor do they know what proportion of light and darkness or stress triggers this switch in brain chemistry. "Is it 50-50? Or 80 percent light versus dark and 20 percent stress? We don't know," added Spitzer. "If we just stressed the animal and didn't change their photoperiod, would that lead to changes in transmitter identity? We don't know, but those are all doable experiments."

But as they learn more about this trigger mechanism, they said one promising avenue for human application might be to use this neurotransmitter switch to deliver dopamine effectively to parts of the brain that no longer receive dopamine in Parkinson's patients.

"We could switch to a parallel pathway to put dopamine where it's needed with fewer side effects than pharmacological agents," said Dulcis.

The other researchers involved in the study, which was funded by grants from the Ellison Medical Foundation, were Pouya Jamshidi and Stefan Leutgeb of UC San Diego.