Gut bacteria is very important to the nervous system, which means that the gut bacteria is essential for our wellness. However, what if we told you that the gut bacteria actually helps the development of Parkinson’s disease? As shocking as it may sound, scientists have discovered a functional link between Parkinson’s disease and gut bacteria.

Sarkis Mazmanian, California Institute of Technology, conducted this new research with his time and published the results in the “Cell” journal a few days back. The researchers suggest that changes in the gut bacteria or the organic composition of bacteria populations are contributory to the deterioration of motor skills. In case you don’t know, weakening of motor skills is a symptom of Parkinson’s.

With up to 10 million cases in the world, Parkinson’s earns the second spot when talking about the most common neurodegenerative diseases. One of the earliest symptoms of Parkinson’s is when the patient starts experiencing difficulty while walking. Also, most of the patients suffering from this disease suffer from constipation and other such gastrointestinal issues.

Talking about the new finding by Sarkis Mazmanian and his team, their study suggests that the intestine holds as much as 70 percent of all the neurons present in the peripheral nervous system. This directly implies that the central nervous system is related to the gut’s nervous system. The gut hosts several different bacteria called microbiome that are essential for proper functioning and development of the nervous and immune systems. Some of these bacteria are helpful, while others can become harsh and intrusive.

Mazmanian notes that right now there’s no way we can find out which particular species are beneficial or problematic in Parkinson’s. The scientists conducted experiments using mice that displayed the symptoms of Parkinson’s. The mice were divided into two different categories, with one group being raised in non-sterile cages and the other being bred in a microbe-free, sterile environment.

The researchers then took Gut microbiota from human patients of the Parkinson’s disease and introduced it into the mice. The symptoms of both the groups of mice were observed, and the mice were subjected to various tasks for testing their motor skills. The scientists observed that the mice who were given gut microbiota from Parkinson’s patients displayed heightened deterioration in motor skills as compared to the mice that received gut microbiota of healthy people. Also, the mice bred in sterile conditions performed slightly better than the ones living in non-sterile cages.

In the conclusion of their report, the researchers noted,”These findings reveal that gut bacteria regulate movement disorders in mice and suggest that alterations in the human microbiome represent a risk factor for PD [Parkinson’s disease].”