Study identifies pesticides that could influence Parkinson’s disease

The researchers investigated 288 pesticides using agricultural records and discovered that long-term exposure to 53 of these pesticides was associated with Parkinson's disease

Washington: Researchers identified Pesticides that could be linked to the development of Parkinson’s disease. The study was published in the journal, ‘Nature Communications’.

The study was led by Richard Krolewski, MD, PhD, a neurologist in the Brigham’s Division of Movement Disorders and Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases, and Kimberly Paul, PhD, from UCLA, along with collaboration with Edinson Lucumi Moreno within the Khurana lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

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Parkinson’s disease risk may be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. The researchers investigated 288 pesticides using agricultural records and discovered that long-term exposure to 53 of these pesticides was associated with Parkinson’s disease.

The researchers then studied 39 of those pesticides in dopamine neurons derived from Parkinson’s patients, identifying 10 that were directly toxic to dopamine neurons. The study also discovered that exposing dopamine neurons to multiple pesticides used in combination, such as in cotton farming, is more toxic than any single pesticide.

“The combination of bench science and epidemiology is quite novel here,” said Krolewski. “The bench science is able to address questions that are difficult to answer with epidemiology while the epidemiology helps direct the bench science – the sum is greater than the parts.” The Department of Defense supported this project and has now supported the group to utilize diverse stem-cell models derived from Parkinson’s patients to investigate how pesticides and the gut microbiome disrupt key neuronal processes affecting both movement and cognition.

“The findings advance a major goal of the BWH Movement Division to tailor therapies to specific triggers of Parkinson’s in each patient,” said Khurana.