Gent –
Introducing stool from healthy people through the nose to Parkinson’s patients: it can help against the symptoms of the disease. Scientists from Ghent have come to this remarkable conclusion. “This could be a valuable new treatment.”
More than 40,000 Belgians are affected by Parkinson’s disease, and the number is increasing. Common symptoms include balance problems, stiffness and the typical ‘tremor’, as well as loss of smell and sleep disorders. Existing medications often have side effects.
But a new study, conducted by Ghent University Hospital, Ghent University and the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, shows promising results for a different treatment method. In concrete terms, stool from healthy people was inserted into the nose through a tube and moved into the small intestine.
Valuable treatment
And guess what? Patients who were transplanted with stool from a healthy donor (with healthy intestinal bacteria) improved noticeably after a year. Among other things, their motor symptoms improved and they suffered less from constipation. That’s because there is a link between Parkinson’s and the bacteria in our intestines. For example, people with the disease more often have intestinal infections and a disrupted intestinal wall barrier.
“But it could also mean that stool transplantation could be a valuable new treatment,” says Prof. Roosmarijn Vandenbroucke. “More research is needed, but this may be a safe and cost-effective way to improve the quality of life for millions of people with Parkinson’s.”
Bacteriepil
The stool that was experimented with comes from the Ghent Stool Bank. This lab – the first of its kind in Belgium – collects and processes healthy stool. Healthy candidate donors can always register viastoelgangbank@uzgent.be or the UZ Gent website.
In the next phase, the scientists want to investigate which bacteria exactly have that positive influence. “This could lead to the development of a ‘bacterial pill’ or another targeted therapy,” says Professor Debby Laukens. “That could possibly replace the stool transplant.”
