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Braaks Gut Theory

Current theorys see Parkinson’s as degeneration of the substantia nigra .The hypothesis Braak and colleagues research pathology would indicate that it advances from the peripheral nervous system to the brain stem in a staging system first  described  by Braak in 2003

The focus on the substantia nigra faces challenge, most PD patients have additional, non-motor symptoms, and PD is coming to be understood as a much broader disease.

Chronic constipation, loss of smell, and REM sleep disorders often occur before the motor symptoms

One of the attractive features of Braak’s staging scheme is that the areas of the nervous system littered with Lewy bodies at the earliest stages of disease could account for these non-motor symptoms.

The staging system, draws attention to the damage in other transmitter systems—in other words, apart from and before the nigrostriatal system. In addition, it can serve as a framework for relating the pathology in other parts of the nervous system (gastrointestinal tract, spinal cord, and so on) to that in the brain.

Read on link below

http://www.alzforum.org/new/pdf/ParkinsonsSeries.pdf

Wait for it…Oh dear its pooh well thats what the guts about I guess,I like the humour interjection in this snippet  read on and smile.http://www.wellsphere.com/parkinson-s-disease-article/fecal-transplants-might-cure-pd-no-sh-t-and-imean-that/1343322

October 11, 2014 - Posted by Chris | Research