Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have unveiled new insights into the workings of the brain in those with Parkinson’s.
Professor Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas, leader of the study, which was published in Molecular Psychiatry, said: “For the first time, we can show that mitochondria, the vital energy producers within brain cells, particularly neurons, undergo damage, leading to disruptions in mitochondrial DNA. This initiates and spreads the disease like a wildfire through the brain.”
Seeking to understand why this damage occurred and how it contributed to the condition, they found that: “Small fragments of – actually DNA – from the mitochondria are released into the cell. When these fragments of damaged DNA are misplaced, they become toxic to the cell, prompting nerve cells to expel this toxic mitochondrial DNA,” explains Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas. This toxic DNA then spreads through the brain cells.
Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas hopes that their discovery will lead to the development of future treatments and better diagnostics for Parkinson’s, with the possibility that damaged mitochondrial DNA could be detected in blood samples and used as an early biomarker of the disease.
The researchers now plan to investigate if this DNA damage could also be used to indicate different stages of the condition and to detect progression.
Read Mitochondrial DNA Damage Triggers Spread of Parkinson’s Disease-Like Pathology in Molecular Psychiatry
