Researchers investigating Parkinson’s disease have made a curious discovery related to ear wax that could improve prospects of prevention and diagnosis.
A team based at Zhejiang University in Guangzhou, China, has found that ear wax tests could help with early detection of the debilitating disease, which is difficult to treat and has no cure.
“Ear wax from people with Parkinson’s disease were significantly different than the ear wax from people without the disease,” according to the American Chemical Society, which published the team’s findings.
The researchers were following up on previous work showing that Parkinson’s sufferers’ sebum – an oily substance secreted through the skin – has a different odour to that of people without the disease.
As ear wax is largely made up of sebum, the team realised that it would make for a potentially telling research target.
After screening samples taken from over 200 people, the researchers found alterations in four volatile organic compounds in Parkinson’s patients’ ear wax – changes that do not appear in the compounds in sebum of those without the disease.
In separate research, scientists from the Quadram Institute in Britain and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) found alterations in the gut microbiomes of Parkinson’s patients that could be linked to exposure to solvents and pesticides, which in turn could be contributing to the disease’s onset.
“Microbial pathways potentially involved in biochemical transformation of solvents and pesticides are enriched in Parkinson’s disease, tying in with other studies that linked exposure of such chemicals with the condition,” the Quadram-EMBL team said.
Describing Parkinson’s as “an increasingly common neurodegenerative condition, characterised by involuntary shaking, stiffness and slow movement”, the team reminded that it also has less well-known symptoms such as constipation, inflammation and leakiness of the gut lining, some of which manifest decades before the onset of recognisable symptoms and diagnosis. – dpa
