Polyethylene glycol: constipation and alpha-synuclein

My version of PD, 8 years post diagnosis, includes an almost continuous problem with constipation. The thing that helps most is Movicol (macrogol 3350, polyethylene glycol).

According to Wikipedia[1] it works by:

"Macrogol is an inert substance that passes through the gut without being absorbed into the body. It relieves constipation because it causes the water it is taken with, to be retained in the bowel instead of being absorbed into the body. This increases the water content and volume of the stools in the bowel, making them softer and easier to pass."

Interestingly, approximately 70% [2] of milk in the UK is sold in HDPE (high density polyethylene).

That's the good news. Now for the bad news.

Uversky et al. write [3]:

"The aggregation and fibrillation of alpha-synuclein has been implicated as a causative factor in [Parkinson's disease], and the process of fibril formation has been intensively studied in vitro with dilute protein solutions. However, the intracellular environment of proteins is crowded with other macromolecules, whose concentration can reach 400 g/l. ... The addition of high concentrations of different polymers (proteins, polysaccharides and polyethylene glycols) dramatically accelerated alpha-synuclein fibrillation in vitro."

Tag: johnt:alpha-synuclein

References

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movicol

[2] http://plastics.sabic.eu/cases/_en/messageinabottle.htm

[3] "Accelerated alpha-synuclein fibrillation in crowded milieu."
Uversky VN, M Cooper E, Bower KS, Li J, Fink AL
FEBS Letters [2002, 515(1-3):99-103]
http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/11943202

John