Laboratory for Enteric NeuroScience, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Translational Research Center for GastroIntestinal Disorders, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Elife. 2017 Aug 21;6:e26850. doi: 10.7554/eLife.26850.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease with motor and non-motor symptoms, including constipation. Therefore, several studies have investigated the gastrointestinal tract, and more specifically the enteric nervous system (ENS), in search of an early biomarker of PD. Besides α-synuclein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction and dysregulation of intracellular Ca concentration probably contribute to the pathogenesis of PD. Here we assessed neuronal and mitochondrial functioning in primary enteric neurons of PD patients and their healthy partners as controls. Using a unique combination of live microscopy techniques, applied to routine duodenum biopsies, we were able to record neuronal Ca responses and mitochondrial membrane potential in these nerve tissues. We found that submucous neurons were not affected in PD patients, which suggests that these neurons are not involved in the pathogenesis or the gastrointestinal symptoms of PD. Our study provides for the first time functional information on live neurons in PD patients.
帕金森病（PD）是一种具有运动和非运动症状的神经退行性疾病，包括便秘。因此，有几项研究调查了胃肠道，更具体地说是肠神经系统（ENS），以寻找 PD 的早期生物标志物。除了α-突触核蛋白聚集外，线粒体功能障碍和细胞内 Ca 浓度的失调可能有助于 PD 的发病机制。在这里，我们评估了 PD 患者和健康对照组的原代肠神经元的神经元和线粒体功能。我们使用活体显微镜技术的独特组合，应用于常规十二指肠活检，能够记录这些神经组织中的神经元 Ca 反应和线粒体膜电位。我们发现 PD 患者的黏膜下神经元没有受到影响，这表明这些神经元不参与 PD 的发病机制或胃肠道症状。我们的研究首次为 PD 患者的活神经元提供了功能信息。
