Pesticide use more than doubles risk of Parkinson's disease

 Pesticide use more than doubles risk of Parkinson's disease

A new study has shown that exposure to a common pesticide used by the general public in agricultural work can seriously affect brain health and greatly increase the risk of Parkinson's disease.

According to a new study, people who come into prolonged contact with the pesticide chlorpyrifos are more than two and a half times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease.

Researchers say that this chemical destroys dopamine-producing cells in the brain and causes the accumulation of harmful proteins, causing serious damage to the nervous system.

The research has found that the pesticide disrupts the cell's cleaning system, or autophagy, and it is believed that it will help develop future treatments for it.

July 15, Kathmandu. A new study has shown that exposure to a common pesticide used by the general public in agricultural work can seriously affect brain health and greatly increase the risk of Parkinson's disease.

Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles Health Sciences found that people exposed to the pesticide chlorpyrifos for a long time are more than two and a half times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease.

The study, published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration, analyzed health data from hundreds of people and conducted laboratory experiments. Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that slowly destroys the cells that produce dopamine, a brain chemical that controls movement, balance, and coordination.

As dopamine levels decline, symptoms such as tremors, muscle stiffness, and difficulty walking begin to appear. While the disease was previously thought to be largely genetic, scientists have recently focused on the role of environmental factors and pesticides.

In the study, scientists measured long-term residential and workplace exposure to chlorpyrifos in 829 people with Parkinson’s disease and 824 people without the disease.

When compared with records of pesticide use in California, people with long-term exposure to the chemical around their homes were significantly more likely to develop the disease. Despite some restrictions on its use in residential areas in the United States in 2001 and in agricultural areas in 2021, it is still used on a variety of crops, and it is still widely used in many countries around the world.

Scientists also conducted laboratory tests on mice and zebrafish to find out how the pesticide damages the brain. Mice exposed to chlorpyrifos for 11 weeks developed movement problems similar to those in humans and lost their dopamine-producing neurons.

In addition, abnormal accumulation of a harmful protein called alpha-synuclein, which is directly linked to inflammation and Parkinson's disease, was observed in the brain, which disrupts normal brain function.

Further research in zebrafish has revealed that the main biological process behind this is the disruption of the 'autophagy' system. Autophagy is considered an internal cleaning and recycling system within cells, which prevents the accumulation of harmful proteins and waste in the brain.

Scientists have found that because chlorpyrifos blocks this cleaning process, neurons in the brain become more susceptible to destruction. But when scientists artificially revived the autophagy system, the brain cells were spared from damage.

The study's senior author, Dr. According to Jeff Bronstein, this research establishes chlorpyrifos as a specific environmental factor in Parkinson's disease, and the biological mechanisms proven in animals show that this relationship is not just coincidental but a major cause.

Since the malfunction in the autophagy system is the main cause, it is believed that this discovery will greatly help in the future to prevent and develop new drugs to treat pesticide-induced brain damage.