Diseases with synuclein deposition, the synucleinopathies, include Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and multisystem atrophy. Abnormal synuclein spreads through two pathways in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Either it first appears in the enteric nerve plexuses and by way of the nervus vagus enters the brainstem, invades the caudal parts of the brain, and then only damages the basal ganglia and cortex, causing parkinsonism and dementia (the „body first“ pathway). The second pathway („brain first“) starts directly in the brain, probably in the amygdala and bulbus olfactorius. Parkinson’s disease leads to significant sleep changes, one of which is REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD). RBD is due to the synuclein involvement of the brainstem and may precede the manifestation of the core symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by about 10 years.
Some characteristics of the gut microbiota are associated with sleep and its disturbances. The gut microbiota produces substances that have the ability to act in the brain. At the same time, gut dysbiosis increases the permeability of the gut wall, which may further accentuate its effect on the brain and other organs. Alterations in the gut microbiota have been reported in advanced Parkinson’s disease, but it is still speculative as to whether the gut microbiota has any relationship with the etiopathogenesis of synucleinopathies.
This talk will discuss the clinical aspects of the development of synucleinopathies, sleep disturbances in Parkinson’s disease, changes in the microbiome in relation to sleep and Parkinson’s disease, and hypotheses that these are all somehow related.
Biography:
Dr. Karel Šonka received his training in neurology and sleep medicine in Prague and in Montpelier. He obtained the specialization of neurologist in 1988 (Czechoslovakia), the University diploma „Sleep and Wake“ in 1992 (France) and passed the European Sleep Research Society examination for „Sleep Experts“ in 2012 in Paris. He was appointed professor of neurology at Charles University in 2004. Dr. Karel Sonka is a clinician, and his main areas of research are narcolepsy and other central hypersomnias, REM sleep behaviour disorder, restless legs syndrome, sleep-related respiratory disorders and sleep disorders in neurological diseases.
Dr. Petra Procházková holds a PhD in immunology from Charles University, Prague (2006), where her doctoral thesis focused on the innate immunity of earthworms. Since 2010, she has been a researcher at the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology. Her work focuses on analyzing the microbiome and its links to health and disease, including areas such as the gut-brain axis, eating disorders, mucosal immunity and the effects of diet on the microbiota.
IPHYS contact person: Alena Sumová, alena.sumova@fgu.cas.cz
