According to a story from Medical Xpress, new discoveries are revealing more and more about how the population of bacteria in our digestive system, known as the gut microbiome, can have significant impacts on both our physical and mental health. Now a team of researchers have identified a bacterial species that can have a major impact on the effectiveness of levodopa, the most common medication used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
About Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a type of long term, progressive, degenerative illness that affects the central nervous system. Symptoms tend to develop over a period of years and primarily affect the movement ability and mental state of the patient. The cause of Parkinson’s disease remains a mystery, although there are a number of risk factors that have been identified. These factors include head injuries, pesticide exposure, and certain genetic variants and mutations. About 15 percent of patients have a close relative with the disease, suggesting some genetic connection. Symptoms include slowed movements, poor coordination, trouble walking, shaking, stiffness, abnormal posture, depression, anxiety, inhibited thinking, hallucinations, and dementia. Treatment may involve a number of medications, rehabilitation, and surgical operations. Survival rate varies, but most patients survive around a decade after getting diagnosed. To learn more about Parkinson’s disease, click here.
About The Research
The researchers found that the bacteria could have a major effect on the effectiveness of levodopa. The impact of the drug on patients has always varied considerably and no one understood why at first. Only about one to five percent of levodopa actually makes it to the brain, where the drug is active, and part of this explained by breakdown from the body’s enzymes.
This early degradation of levodopa can also lead to side effects. Prior research has found that taking antibiotics with levodopa can increase its effectiveness, which implicates bacteria as having significant impact on the drug. The researchers combed through a trove of bacterial DNA to determine which species produced an enzyme that could break down levodopa, and finally came down to one species: Entercoccus faecalis.
From here, the team was able to identify a molecule that could inhibit the E. faecalis enzyme so that it would not break down levodopa.
These discoveries could lead to the development of a new formulation that makes levodopa more effective. The findings also highlight the remarkable impacts that just a single bacteria species in our gut can have. Check out the original study here.
