The Role of the BBB in PD
We have a lot of facts that are generally not disputed, connected to PD, and the more of these facts which can be explained by a theory, adds credence to the theory.
Let us assume that a healthy person has a BBB permeability value of 100. Assume that it needs to be 150, to let in the first toxins, the
smaller ones, more fat soluble. The larger molecular weight toxins need 170. The largest molecules with a very low fat solubility need 190 permeability of the BBB to get past it. Completely ficticious figures to illustrate the ideas.
So between 100 and 150, a person can have mild BBB damage and not show PD. The BBB ages as we age, so does your heart, liver, skin etc.
Assume that when the figure goes over 200, it allows dopamine to leak out of your brain into the bloodstream. This could be the threshold for movement to be very inhibited. It also can let carbidopa from your sinemet leak in. This is very bad news since carbidopa is mixed with levodopa in your sinamet, to stop it forming dopamine by decarboxylation. When carbidopa gets into
your brain, it does not matter how much levodopa you pack into your brain, it won't form dopamine.
So can this idea give explanations for observed facts.
Qu.1. Why do symptoms vary so much in different PD sufferers.
A. Possibly because the toxins admitted at say 150 to 160 only cause a tremor. A permeability figure just above the 150 threshold may only attack one side of the brain also, giving an explanation for
Qu 2. Why is PD often initially one sided?
A. See above.
Qu 3. Why does stress cause a catastrophic increase in symptoms?
A. Because stress has been proven to open the floodgates of the BBB,
and you reach say over 200, where your tiny supply of dopamine is dumpted out of the brain into the bloodstream. Reason why you freeze.
Qu 4 Why does your heart pound when you are in a stressful situation.
A. Because of the dopamine dropped into your bloodstream, where it acts as a hormone, increasing your heart rate. Surgeons often add it in an operation if the heart starts to become sluggish.
Qu 5. Why do symptoms increase in type as the disease progresses,
eg, start with a mild tremor, then get trouble swallowing, then difficulty turning in bed, getting off a chair, eventually total immobility.
A, Again, as you progress up the permeability scale, it opens the door to ever more toxins, each with a different effect, and closer to the threshold where you lose dopamine.
Qu 6. Why is PD normally an old person's disease?
A. Because as explained above, all BBB's increase in permeability with age. A young person can be unfortunate to be born with a BBB higher than normal, and can reach the threshold sooner than normal. Just as my granddaughter was born with a defective heart and died at 6 months.
Qu 7. Why does curcumin alleviate symptoms ?
A Because it reduces BBB Permeability
Qu 8 Why does alpha lipoic acid get a good reputation as a PD supplement.
A Because it reduces the BBB permeability.
Qu 9 Why do pesticides like MCPA cause PD?
A. Because they widen the BBB permeability
Qu 10. Why is citicholine (CDP Choline) found to be a good supplement.
A. Because it reduces the BBB permeability.
Qu 11. In an advanced Parkie, medications frequently simply don't work. Why?
A. Duie to carbidopa getting into the brain and stopping conversion of
levodopa.

I asked Prof Al Lossinsky whether the BBB Permeability of a living person could be measured. He said yes, by putting radio-opaque tracers in the blood and use special scanners to measure permeability.
Could we therefore use this technique on a group of parkies with a spectrum of years with PD, and show a correlation.
The numbers are guesses, and the order of symptoms could be different, but you get the idea.
Years of PD BBB permeability Symptoms.
0 100 none
0 140 none
2 160 tremor
5 180 tremor, turning in bed, impaired walk
10 200 v. bad walking, largely imobile etc

If a correlation like this could be shown, we would have a method to warn of the impending approach of PD. We would have a scientific quantitative method of diagnosing PD, (instead of swinging their arm round!!).
We could follow the progression, we could note the effect of new drugs which reduce the permeability. We could evaluate drugs already approved for human use, such as hypertension drugs which have recently been found to improve PD. Why? because they reduce the BBB permeability.

Like Heidi, I have been hoping to interest a professional researcher who would confirm or otherwise, the correlation between PD progression and BBB permeabilty, as in the table above. Surely no more than $5,000 to $10,000.

Ron