Physiologists and biomedics from USP discovered that there is a type of cell in the brain that offers a kind of defense against the neuronal loss caused by Parkinson’s disease. The curious thing is that the same cell was, until then, identified as an enemy of the treatment.
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“These results suggest a possible path for the treatment of the disease in the future, when we discover mechanisms to activate microglia (one of the types of cells in the central nervous system) in a beneficial way”, said researcher Carolina Parga, first author of the research, to the USP portal.
Published in February on Journal of Neuroimmunologyresearch has shown that microglia are capable of defending the brain from both neuron loss and motor disorders caused by Parkinson’s.
Before, it was believed that the microglia impaired the treatment, because in laboratory tests, when they were blocked by drugs, the symptoms of Parkinson’s decreased.
“The microglia end up having, as we see, a dual function. At the beginning of the disease, it protects against neuronal loss, but as the disease progresses, microglia become an enemy, just like in other diseases such as Alzheimer’s”, said Luiz Roberto Giorgetti de Britto, study coordinator, to the university portal.
Methodology
The research was carried out with mice divided into two groups. Both received injections applied directly into the brain of a toxin called 6-hydroxydopamine, which mimics the symptoms of Parkinson’s. One of the groups, however, had previously had all the microglia burned from the use of controlled substances.
The mice that no longer had the cells faced much more severe symptoms of loss of movement and an inability to carry out neuronal functions. For researchers, the study paves the way for further research on the subject.
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