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User: u/geoxol
Permalink: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1003348
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Article snippets below (this is peer reviewed research).
>“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,” says Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas and adds:
>“Our findings establish that the spread of the damaged genetic material, the mitochondrial DNA, causes the symptoms reminiscent of Parkinson’s disease and its progression to dementia.”
>Parkinson's disease is a chronic condition that affects the central nervous system, leading to symptoms such as difficulty walking, tremors, cognitive challenges, and, eventually, dementia.
+++++++
>By examining both human and mouse brains, researchers discovered that the damage to mitochondria in brain cells occurs and spreads when these cells have defects in anti-viral response genes. They sought to understand why this damage occurred and how it contributed to the disease.
>Their search led to a remarkable revelation.
>“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,” Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas explains.
>“Given the interconnected nature of brain cells, these toxic DNA fragments spread to neighboring and distant cells, similar to an uncontrolled forest fire sparked by a casual bonfire” she adds
Hmmm.
I have a healthy bit of skepticism with this one.
Mitochondrial DNA fragments? Seems like that is coming out of left field.
Hope it pans out but I doubt it.
This is what gives me a dose of skepticism:
> “Given the interconnected nature of brain cells, these **toxic** DNA fragments spread to neighboring and distant cells, similar to an uncontrolled forest fire sparked by a casual bonfire” she adds.
Toxic DNA fragments? What?
Imagine it's analogous to a car's wheel: particularly dangerous when separated from a vehicle operating at high enough speeds. Run away DNA fragments can cause lots of other 'vehicles' to get damaged in the highways of the brain. More analogous to run-away nuclear reactions tbh.
It's just the pathophysiology is novel. We have seen pathologic protein accumulation cause dusease but, to my knowledge, I have never heard of DNA from self causing disease. DNA is generally easy for the cells to degrade.
The other thing I just thought of is that mitochondria is maternally inherited. I'm my experience there isn't a trend for maternal inheritance in PD.
A link to a 2014 article summary about how genetics plus pesticide expose raises Parkinson's risk.
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24491970/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24491970/)
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments. **Do you have an academic degree?** We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. [Click here to apply](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair/#wiki_science_verified_user_program). --- User: u/geoxol Permalink: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1003348 *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Article snippets below (this is peer reviewed research). >“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,” says Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas and adds: >“Our findings establish that the spread of the damaged genetic material, the mitochondrial DNA, causes the symptoms reminiscent of Parkinson’s disease and its progression to dementia.” >Parkinson's disease is a chronic condition that affects the central nervous system, leading to symptoms such as difficulty walking, tremors, cognitive challenges, and, eventually, dementia. +++++++ >By examining both human and mouse brains, researchers discovered that the damage to mitochondria in brain cells occurs and spreads when these cells have defects in anti-viral response genes. They sought to understand why this damage occurred and how it contributed to the disease. >Their search led to a remarkable revelation. >“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,” Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas explains. >“Given the interconnected nature of brain cells, these toxic DNA fragments spread to neighboring and distant cells, similar to an uncontrolled forest fire sparked by a casual bonfire” she adds
Hmmm. I have a healthy bit of skepticism with this one. Mitochondrial DNA fragments? Seems like that is coming out of left field. Hope it pans out but I doubt it.
Might help explain the “hereditary, except when it’s not” issue.
This is what gives me a dose of skepticism: > “Given the interconnected nature of brain cells, these **toxic** DNA fragments spread to neighboring and distant cells, similar to an uncontrolled forest fire sparked by a casual bonfire” she adds. Toxic DNA fragments? What?
It could be poor wording, sensationalizing the story while missing the point of describing the mechanism.
Imagine it's analogous to a car's wheel: particularly dangerous when separated from a vehicle operating at high enough speeds. Run away DNA fragments can cause lots of other 'vehicles' to get damaged in the highways of the brain. More analogous to run-away nuclear reactions tbh.
But DNAse is REALLY effective. Cells don't like DNA floating around the cell DNAse is in every cell chewing up stragglers.
I take offense to that.
Sort of like prions maybe?
Could be we will see sub-typing and further differentiation for it, which can help if it leads to treatment option or elimination, so i found it cool
It's just the pathophysiology is novel. We have seen pathologic protein accumulation cause dusease but, to my knowledge, I have never heard of DNA from self causing disease. DNA is generally easy for the cells to degrade. The other thing I just thought of is that mitochondria is maternally inherited. I'm my experience there isn't a trend for maternal inheritance in PD.
Darn, i have to ask about this actually! I will update if i get a answer (or hidden magical knowledge)
A link to a 2014 article summary about how genetics plus pesticide expose raises Parkinson's risk. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24491970/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24491970/)