Alarm neurodegenerative diseases: guilty of oxidative stress?  The case "Parkinson"


Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of neurological diseases, with frequent muscle involvement. They are characterized by an insidious onset and a course of development which can lead capriciously, sometimes even short time, a severe impairment of normal vital functions such as phonation, breathing, swallowing and walking.

We ascribe to them the dementia of Alzheimer, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's, etc..

Many hypotheses have been formulated to try to explain why the incidence of these diseases is worrying increase and the oxidative stress seems to be among the most reliable.

In fact, the brain-spinal axis, is in itself highly susceptible to oxidative insults for a number of reasons. The first is due to its own metabolism, based almost exclusively on oxygen consumption, one of the "parents" of dangerous free radicals. In addition, the membranes of neurons, already prone to accumulate antioxidants such as vitamin E, have many polyunsaturated fatty acids that are a primary target of the radical attack . In the case of Parkinson's disease, then, is the metabolism of the neurotransmitter itself (the dopamine), which are deficient patients who are affected, to be sources of metabolites "oxidants".

Of these issues speaked to Arenzano (Italy), December 21, dr. Eugenio Luigi Iorio, president of the International Observatory of Oxidative Stress, in an important course for neurologists.

The occasion was propitious for the presentation of the results of a recent study performed in Cilento (Salerno, Italy) on a group of patients with Parkinson's disease showed that, compared with controls, significantly higher values ​​of oxidative stress, measured by d-ROMs Test.

A direct confirmation of how devastating it can be the effect of an uncontrolled production of reactive chemical species but also, perhaps, the real hope of being able to slow down, in the near future, the evolution progressive of this disease, promoting rational and targeted physiological modulators with antioxidant action.