The crew at Columbia University Irving Medical Center stated: "Many researchers believe that the neurodegenerative disorder gets started in the gut.
"Research now means that an autoimmune response could also be driving these early occasions."
Parkinson's disease symptoms, such as uncontrollable tremors, result from the loss of neurons in the brain that control movements.
David Sulzer, PhD, explained the hypothesis that Parkinson's first begins in the gut, years before the first neurological signs appear.
Dr Sulzer said: "If that is the start of Parkinson's in many individuals, we might probably establish who has the illness earlier than it ever reaches the mind and hopefully cease it in its tracks."
The research paper pointed out that "most Parkinson's sufferers expertise constipation years earlier than mind signs emerge".
To pursue this line of enquiry, Dr Sulzer teamed up with neuroimmunologist Dritan Agalliu, PhD.
They found that an autoimmune reaction seemingly leads to what appears to be early stages of Parkinson's.
Such a conclusion prompts the idea that interruption of an immune response in the gut could potentially stop Parkinson's from progressing.
Dr Sulzer added: "Our final purpose is to develop a mannequin of Parkinson's illness in mice that recreates the human illness course of, which does not exist proper now.
"That will be critical in answering questions about the disease that we can't explore in people and eventually developing better therapies."
Parkinson's illness
The NHS describes the signs of Parkinson's illness as "mild" in its earliest phases.
The well being physique provides: "There are many different symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease.
"But the order through which these develop and their severity is completely different for every particular person."
The main symptoms include:
The new findings have been printed within the journal Neuron on August 18, 2023.
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