The Appendix can cause dementia – scientists

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Аппендикс может спровоцировать слабоумие, - ученые A new study has identified an unusual relationship.

The Appendix creates a toxic protein complexes, which can then be sent to the brain and cause there of neurodegenerative processes.

Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases arise from the fact that the neurons in the brain accumulate large protein complexes that are toxic to nerve cells, says Science and Life. This unpleasant property is not at all proteins, but only some; if we are talking about Parkinson’s disease, in her case usually remember about a protein called alpha-synuclein. With the development of the disease the person loses control over their own movements, there is a characteristic Parkinsonian tremor, etc., then it comes to higher cognitive functions.

However, experts have noticed that Parkinson’s disease is accompanied with serious bowel problems, and these problems sometimes occur long before the manifestation of the main symptoms. On the other hand, it was noticed that Parkinson’s disease is much less likely to develop those for medically removed one of the branches of the vagus nerve, which is suitable to the intestines. Indeed, it was found that the intestine can directly provoke Parkinson’s disease: two years ago we wrote about the fact that the toxic molecules of alpha-synuclein can ascend from the intestine via the wandering nerve directly into the brain.

But the intestine is very large. Is there any particular area that is a hotbed of disease? Under some assumptions, such area could be the Appendix: it is known that it contains many immune cells and helps maintain microbial balance in the intestinal microflora, and in Parkinson’s disease in the microflora begins the problem and out of control inflammatory response. But if it is true that the Appendix can provoke the disease, it is obvious that among those who have cut it out, Parkinson’s is a lot less frequent.

This relationship was able to see the staff of the Institute van Andela and their colleagues from the Lund University. They analyzed medical records of more than 1.7 million Swedes over several decades, starting in 1964. Some of them the Appendix was removed, and, as stated in the article in Science Translational Medicine, people with removed appendixes the likelihood of Parkinson’s disease was 20% lower. However, this effect was observed only from the villagers; on the other hand, removal of the Appendix does not protect from disease those in the genome was parkinsonia mutations – in other words, the absence of the Appendix protects only against the variant of the disease that develops largely due to external reasons.

The authors also compared the course of disease in eight patients with Parkinson’s syndrome, among which some were with the Appendix, and the other without. It turned out that if the Appendix was removed much before the arrival of the disease (for example, 20 years), it is allowed to delay its beginning on average at 3.6 years. If the Appendix was removed shortly before the disease, its timing is not reflected.

When the researchers decided to look in the Appendix and took samples of 48 people, it was found that in all samples, except two, was the alpha sinucleanse systems – exactly the same that you can find in the brain of patient with Parkinson’s syndrome. Moreover, the Appendix turns normal alpha synuclein in toxic: when “healthy” protein was added to the cells of the Appendix, they split it up to shorter molecules, which is much more prone to form toxic complexes. That is, the Appendix can rightly be called one of the sources of the disease.

However, it is not clear why in this case we are all in a row do not suffer from Parkinson’s. Probably most people have triggered some protective systems, and the toxic protein just comes from Appendix to the brain. On the other hand, some infections may stimulate the formation of toxic protein complexes in the Appendix. So while the authors do not make any suggestions about the Appendix – in the sense that whether or not I should remove it to protect against Parkinson’s.

However, researchers believe that patients between the Appendix and the Appendix of healthy people there are also some differences that will help to understand its role in the development of the disease – it only remains for these differences to find.

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