Yale’s Groundbreaking Research on Gut-Brain Interactions to Combat Parkinson’s

August 9, 2022

An interdisciplinary team of doctors and scientists at Yale School of Medicine received a grant from the Aligning Sciences Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative to study the link between the gut and the brain (also known as the gut-brain axis). This research can help scientists understand how the gut-brain axis influences the development of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease. While it is not considered an autoimmune disease, some studies suggest that immune factors such as microglia, T cells, and autoantibodies may play a role in Parkinson’s Disease.

Past research on the gut-brain axis revealed that:

• Immune cells in the gut have roles in regulating functions beyond the gut
• Gut microbes send messages to the brain via the vagus nerve
• Small molecules made by gut microbes impact the brain

In the context of Parkinson’s disease, scientists, including those from Yale, have found that:

• Microbes in the gut produce psychoactive metabolites that make their way into the brain
• Misfolded proteins, which have been associated with Parkinson’s disease, traveled to the brain after they were injected into the gut

With the ASAP grant, the Yale researchers will focus on understanding the gut-brain axis during homeostasis, the process of maintaining stable internal conditions. The researchers hope that their research will build a foundation for future clinical trials focused on treating Parkinson’s disease.