Parkinson’s damages support cells before neurons die
Parkinson’s is known as a disease in which nerve cells die. But new research shows that support cells in the brain are damaged earlier, and that this drives the decline of neurons.
Parkinson’s affects neurons that produce dopamine, a messenger essential for movement. Most research focuses on the death of those neurons. But the study, published in eLife, asked a different question: what goes wrong before the neurons fail? It examined the brains of fruit flies carrying a version of the PINK1 gene that is mutated in familial Parkinson’s disease.
Support cells under stress
Using broad single-cell gene analysis across all brain cell types, the researchers found that ensheathing glia were strongly disrupted. These cells are functionally similar to oligodendrocytes in humans: they support and protect the axons, the long projections of nerve cells. With the loss of PINK1, these support cells entered a state normally seen only after nerve injury. They were responding as if there was damage, even before any neurons had died.
Vesicle trafficking as a rescue route
The researchers also identified two proteins in the glia, Vps35 and Vps13, involved in transporting vesicles (small membrane-bound packages) within the cell. These proteins are also linked to hereditary Parkinson’s in humans. Reducing their activity specifically in the support cells was sufficient to protect dopaminergic synapses, without changing the neurons themselves. This suggests that support cells play an active role in the disease process, not merely a passive one. The findings are from animal models and require confirmation in human studies.
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