Research Project

• Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder. The aetiology of the disease may involve exposure to environmental toxins, such as rotenone, one of the oldest but still globally used herbicides. PD may involve a malfunction and death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, with associated increases in alpha-synuclein.
  
• Both acylated and unacylated ghrelin have been reported to have neuroprotective effects through different mechanisms in various PD models. Clinical studies have shown that the gastrointestinal tract also shows dopaminergic neuronal loss and increases in alpha-synuclein.
  
• Clinically, constipation may develop at least twenty years ahead of the central symptoms of the disease. In preclinical studies, chronic rotenone treatment induces delayed gastric emptying and causes enteric neuronal dysfunction. Gastric slow waves are generated by interstitial cells of Cajal to enable peristalsis.
  
• However, no reports are showing that rotenone causes a disruption of slow wave activity or causes gastric dysrhythmia, or whether treating gastric dysrhythmia could delay the onset of PD.