NIH R01 · 2025
Parkinson Disease Neural Circuitry and Gastrointestinal Pathobiology
Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are significant non-motor manifestations of Parkinson disease (PD) that can precede PD motor symptoms by years; cognitive dysfunction is an important late, non-motor manifestation. Braak’s hypothesis proposes that α-synuclein (αS) aggregates propagate along vagal or olfactory afferents to the central nervous system (CNS), leading to motor and non-motor features of PD. However, αS aggregates are also identified in enteric neurons in elderly people without PD. Squalamine prevention of αS aggregates improved constipation in PD. Density of nigrostriatal dopamine transporters (as assessed by 123I-FP-CIT SPECT) are relevant to cognitive processing in PD. αS…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.