News Neuroscience

Protein linked to Parkinson’s travels from gut to brain

Study in mice traces path of alpha-synuclein

mouse nerve cells

SEE-THROUGH VIEW  Using a method that rendered tissue translucent, researchers were able to see alpha-synuclein clumps (green) in the gut of a mouse intermingled with nerve cells (red) and astrocytes (white). Cell nuclei are blue.

Collin Challis, Gradinaru Group/Caltech

By Laura Sanders

- More than 2 years ago

SAN DIEGO — Over the course of months, clumps of a protein implicated in Parkinson’s disease can travel from the gut into the brains of mice, scientists have found.