Progesterone was proven in a examine to have a protecting impact on gut nerve cells. These findings elevate hopes that the hormone could possibly be used within the battle in opposition to Parkinson’s illness.

The nerve cells of the gastrointestinal tract talk with these of the mind and spinal wire. This implies that the nervous system of the digestive tract may affect processes within the mind that result in Parkinson’s. Paula Neufeld and Lennart Stegemann, medical doctoral college students on the Division of Cytology on the College of Medication at Ruhr College Bochum, Germany, have been the primary to detect progesterone receptors within the nerve cells of the gastrointestinal tract and confirmed that progesterone protects the cells. Their findings open up views for the event of novel neuroprotective therapeutic approaches to counteract illnesses similar to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The examine was revealed within the journal Cells on April 21, 2023.

The second mind

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is a fancy community that stretches alongside your entire gastrointestinal tract. It consists of about 100 million nerve cells, autonomously controls digestive processes and is sometimes called the second mind of people. However its perform is way more than digestion: latest analysis has proven that the ENS communicates intently with the central nervous system (CNS), i.e. the mind and spinal wire.

The communication between the ENS and the CNS is at present related to the pathogenesis of assorted neurological illnesses similar to Parkinson’s illness and Alzheimer’s illness, in addition to despair.”

Professor Carsten Theiβ, Head of the Division of Cytology at Ruhr College Bochum

The gut-brain axis isn’t a one-way road; each nervous methods affect one another.

An individual’s weight loss plan has a direct influence on the intestinal microbiome, which in flip interacts with the ENS. Research present that the composition of the microbiome also can have an effect on the CNS through the gut-brain axis, particularly through the vagus nerve, and promote illnesses similar to Parkinson’s illness. A balanced weight loss plan can due to this fact not solely contribute to the preservation of nerve cells within the gut, however may additionally delay Parkinson’s illness for a few years and even stop it fully.

The protecting impact of progesterone

Medical doctoral college students Paula Neufeld and Lennart Stegemann have now efficiently demonstrated a protecting impact of the pure steroid hormone progesterone on the nerve cells of the ENS. In a sequence of experiments, the duo cultivated nerve cells from the ENS over a number of weeks and handled them with a cell toxin to simulate dangerous situations much like Parkinson’s illness. They discovered that the nerve cells that have been moreover handled with progesterone died considerably much less incessantly than the untreated cells.

Paula Neufeld factors out the importance of their discovery: “Our analysis offers vital insights to finish our primary information in regards to the function of progesterone receptors within the enteric nervous system. This opens up utterly new avenues for learning the neuroprotective mechanisms of motion of progesterone inside and outdoors the intestinal tract.” Lennart Stegemann provides that “this examine may probably pave the way in which for brand new steroid hormone-based therapeutic approaches. There may be additionally hope that steroid-based therapeutic approaches may assist to decelerate and even cease neurodegenerative illnesses”.

Cooperation companions

The paper is the results of collaboration and well-established translational analysis between the Division of Cytology headed by Professor Carsten Theiβ on the Ruhr College Bochum Medical Campus and Professor Matthias Vorgerd, senior advisor on the Clinic for Neurology on the BG College Hospital Bergmannsheil in Bochum.