Men may be at greater risk for Parkinson’s suggests new study

In this case, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Male brains are reportedly 10% larger than female brains, but they also decline faster, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Szeged in Hungary.

The study suggests that males are more likely than females to develop neuropsychiatric disorders like Parkinson’s, mainly because their brains age at a faster rate.

Study participants included a relatively small sample, 53 males and 50 females, who ranged between the ages of 21 and 58. The average age was 32. Researchers scanned their brains and discovered that grey matter volume decreased faster in males than it did in females as they aged. Grey matter is a main part of the central nervous system. It translates sensory information the body receives—such as muscle control, learning, memory, arousal, and emotions—into something the brain can understand.

The decreased grey matter could possibly be blamed on how the brain responds to changes in hormone levels as people age—and these changes are what’s associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Parkinson’s.

“Understanding these changes might yield further insight in the course and prognosis of these disorders,” wrote study researchers.

Parkinson’s is a disorder that affects body movement; it is also the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. Symptoms can include shaking, slow and stiff movement, cognitive changes, balance impairment, and speech and writing changes.

Disease now in the six-figures

An estimated 100,000 Canadians are living with the disease. A report by Statistics Canada suggests that Canadian males are more likely than females to have Parkinson’s, with the gap as much as 6.6% vs. 4% for people living in long-term residential care facilities.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are generally treated with medication and therapy, but new breakthroughs may pave the way toward improving diagnoses and advanced treatments. In one recent development, a team of scientists from McGill University Health Centre in Montreal have developed a list of criteria that can uniquely identify Parkinson’s in its early stages. The list includes data from movement disorder experts from across the globe and researchers are hopeful it can have a major impact on the quality of research on the disease.

"With this new classification our goal is to set up a research agenda that will help identify the features that signal the presence of the disease early on," wrote Dr. Ron Postuma, an associate professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University.

Currently, clinicians diagnose Parkinson’s through neurological examinations or by analyzing a patient’s history—but as much as 25% of cases are misdiagnosed because symptoms of Parkinson’s are similar to those of other neurological diseases.

Is aspirin an option?

Meanwhile, a new U.S. study published in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that an ingredient found in aspirin might be effective in treating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s.

Salicylic acid is a bitter chemical found in plants—it is also a main component in aspirin. Researchers discovered that salicylic acid binds itself to an enzyme in the body known as GAPDH, which is believed to cause brain cell death in degenerative diseases.

By binding to this enzyme, salicylic acid blocks GAPDH from travelling to brain cells and causing cell death.

"The new study establishes that GAPDH is a target for salicylate drugs related to aspirin, and hence may be relevant to the therapeutic actions of such drugs," said study co-author Solomon Snyder, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

There are drugs currently on the market (e.g. Deprenyl) that attack GAPDH to protect brain cells and treat neurodegenerative diseases—but researchers are hopeful for the development of new salicylic acid-based treatments.