Journal article
A Critical Analysis of Intestinal Enteric Neuron Loss and Constipation in Parkinson's Disease
C O'day, DI Finkelstein, S Diwakarla, RM Mcquade
Journal of Parkinson S Disease | IOS PRESS | Published : 2022
DOI: 10.3233/JPD-223262
Abstract
Constipation afflicts many patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and significantly impacts on patient quality of life. PD-related constipation is caused by intestinal dysfunction, but the etiology of this dysfunction in patients is unknown. One possible cause is neuron loss within the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the intestine. This review aims to 1) Critically evaluate the evidence for and against intestinal enteric neuron loss in PD patients, 2) Justify why PD-related constipation must be objectively measured, 3) Explore the potential link between loss of enteric neurons in the intestine and constipation in PD, 4) Provide potential explanations for disparities in the literature, and 5)..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Mr. Stephen Yoannidis for his technical expertise in formatting figures and tables. We thank Prof. Roberto De Giorgio and Prof. Fiorella Giancola (Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara) for kindly providing us with unpublished results and additional clarifications that greatly aided our attempted re-analysis of PD-related intestinal enteric neuron loss and constipation data. Finally, we thank Dr. Sara Vogrin (Medical Statistician, St Vincent's Hospital) and Mr. Cameron Patrick (Statistical Consultant, Melbourne Statistical Consulting Platform) for their expert advice and guidance during our trial re-analysis of relevant PD datasets. This review was funded by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant APP1183420 (Protecting the Gut: A Novel Therapeutic Avenue for Parkinson's Disease).