Gut immune cells influence abnormal protein buildup linked to brain disease along the gut-brain connection

Intestinal muscularis macrophages may help initiate α-synuclein pathology along the gut-brain axis in Parkinson's disease models.

This mechanistic PD model study examined muscularis macrophages containing misfolded α-synuclein and found that directed depletion reduced enteric and central α-synuclein pathology, T cell expansion, neurodegeneration, and motor dysfunction.

The findings are based on disease models and macrophage-depletion experiments, not direct evidence that the same mechanism initiates Parkinson's disease in humans.