PET imaging of serotonin system reveals PD many years before motor symptoms appear
 

It's only a couple of days old, but there are quite a few articles on this already. This article is the most sober one I could find.

'Brain changes' could provide early warning sign for Parkinson's disease - NHS

Thanks jeffreyn; that looks very encouraging to me.

Article with more depth
 

The AlzForum website has just published a fairly solid article covering this research (i.e. something that sits between the NHS article and the research paper itself).

Does Serotonin Pathology Foreshadow Parkinson’s Disease? | ALZFORUM

So, dopamine deficiency is not the whole story with PD: serotonin plays a part too.

"The researchers found that in pre-symptomatic people with a hereditary risk of Parkinson's there was a loss of serotonin in several areas of the brain that are known to be affected in Parkinson's. Therefore this could be a change that happens in the early stages of Parkinson's."

The thing I can't understand is why this research isn't translated into a simple serotonin based therapy. The same goes for the other neurotransmitters.

John

Hi johnt,

When you say "a simple serotonin based therapy", do you mean something like giving PwPs the serotonin precursor 5-HTP (plus the equivalent of carbidopa?) to make up for the reduced level of serotonin?

There may be research going on in this area, but I've not come across it (except for the Hinz protocol).

The aldehyde form of serotonin promotes formation of alpha-synuclein oligomers and serotonin blocks formation of amyloid from alpha-synuclein.

Whether these are clinically relevant remains to be seen.

The serotonin aldehyde, 5-HIAL, oligomerizes alpha-synuclein. - PubMed - NCBI

The neurotransmitter serotonin interrupts α-synuclein amyloid maturation. - PubMed - NCBI

antidepressants?
 

So does this mean someone with PD or pre-PD should take an antidepressant like Prozac to increase their serotonin and decrease the formation of a-synuleins?

SSRIs and SNRIs have been found to improve gait in people with PD though whether this is linked to serotonin:a-synuclein interactions is not clear.

Antidepressants for Depression, Apathy, and Gait Instability in Parkinson's Disease: A Multicenter Randomized Study. - PubMed - NCBI