Just as a gardener nurtures a garden to keep it healthy, scientists are exploring the role of gut health in treating Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Recent studies have pointed to the potential of maintaining a healthy gut in finding treatments for PD. The balance of gut bacteria, known as microbiota, has been linked to key factors in PD such as gut barrier integrity, immunity, and the gut-brain axis. This suggests that microbiota could serve as indicators for early diagnosis and targets for therapy. Probiotics, beneficial bacteria found in certain foods and supplements, show promise in improving constipation, motor impairments, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. However, the precise mechanisms behind their effects in PD remain unclear. In a fascinating experiment, researchers tested an oral probiotic called Symprove™ on rats with early-stage PD. Symprove™ has unique qualities, including resistance to gastric acidity and positive effects on gut health. The results were remarkable — Symprove™ significantly influenced both the gut and brain of the PD model. It preserved gut integrity, reduced inflammation markers in the blood, and altered the composition of microbiota. Notably, it prevented loss of specific brain cells and maintained higher levels of beneficial short chain fatty acids. These findings suggest that Symprove™ could improve symptomology and possibly delay or prevent neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in human PD patients. For those curious about learning more, check out the full research article!

An increasing number of studies in recent years have focused on the role that the gut may play in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) pathogenesis, suggesting that the maintenance of a healthy gut may lead to potential treatments of the disease. The health of microbiota has been shown to be directly associated with parameters that play a potential role in PD including gut barrier integrity, immunity, function, metabolism and the correct functioning of the gut-brain axis. The gut microbiota (GM) may therefore be employed as valuable indicators for early diagnosis of PD and potential targets for preventing or treating PD symptoms. Preserving the gut homeostasis using probiotics may therefore lead to a promising treatment strategy due to their known benefits in improving constipation, motor impairments, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of probiotics in PD are yet to be clarified. In this project, we have tested the efficacy of an oral probiotic suspension, Symprove™, on an established animal model of PD. Symprove™, unlike many commercially available probiotics, has been shown to be resistant to gastric acidity, improve symptoms in gastrointestinal diseases and improve gut integrity in an in vitro PD model. In this study, we used an early-stage PD rat model to determine the effect of Symprove™ on neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in the brain and on plasma cytokine levels, GM composition and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) release. Symprove™ was shown to significantly influence both the gut and brain of the PD model. It preserved the gut integrity in the PD model, reduced plasma inflammatory markers and changed microbiota composition. The treatment also prevented the reduction in SCFAs and striatal inflammation and prevented tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cell loss by 17% compared to that observed in animals treated with placebo. We conclude that Symprove™ treatment may have a positive influence on the symptomology of early-stage PD with obvious implications for the improvement of gut integrity and possibly delaying/preventing the onset of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in human PD patients.

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