Six hundred people attended our Annual Parkinson Symposium on January 23, 2010 Co-sponsored by Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Check back for details on our 2011 Symposium soon!

Central and systemic IL-1 exacerbates neurodegeneration and motor symptoms in a model of Parkinson's disease. Brain. 2008 Jul;131(Pt 7):1880-94 Authors: Godoy MC, Tarelli R, Ferrari CC, Sarchi MI, Pitossi FJ Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder with uncertain aetiology and ill-defined pathophysiology. Activated microglial cells in the substantia nigra (SN) are found in all animal models of Parkinson's disease and patients with the illness. Microglia may, however, have detrimental and protective functions in this disease. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a sub-toxic dose of an inflammogen (lipopolysaccharide) can shift microglia to a pro-inflammatory state and exacerbate disease progression in an animal model of Parkinson's disease. Central lipopolysaccharide injection in a degenerating SN exacerbated neurodegeneration, accelerated and increased motor signs and shifted microglial activation towards a pro-inflammatory phenotype with increased interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) secretion. Glucocorticoid treatment and specific IL-1 inhibition reversed these effects. Importantly, chronic systemic expression of IL-1 also exacerbated neurodegeneration and microglial activation in the SN. In vitro, IL-1 directly exacerbated 6-OHDA-triggered dopaminergic toxicity. In vivo, we found that nitric oxide was a downstream molecule of IL-1 action and partially responsible for the exacerbation of neurodegeneration observed. Thus, IL-1 exerts its exacerbating effect on degenerating dopaminergic neurons by direct and indirect mechanisms. This work demonstrates an unequivocal association between IL-1 overproduction and increased disease progression, pointing to inflammation as a risk factor for Parkinson's disease and suggesting that inflammation should be efficiently handled in patients to slow disease progression. PMID: 18504291 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Low vitamin D levels appear to be more common in patients with Parkinson's disease vs healthy control subjects or even in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Medscape Medical News

Much more than a motor illness, Parkinson's disease can have a significant impact on cognition, researchers emphasize. Medscape Medical News