Skin Test May Shed New Light on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease

New research has determined that a simple skin biopsy may be able to detect physical indicators of both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the University of San Luis Patosi in San Luis, Mexico are presenting their study at the American Academy of Neurology’s 67th Annual Meeting. Using skin biopsies from both healthy individuals and those with various neurological diseases, researchers found that those with Parkinson’s possessed seven times the typical amount of tau proteins while those with Alzheimer’s presented eight times the usual amount of alpha-synuclein protein. “More research is needed to confirm these results, but the findings are exciting because we could potentially begin to use skin biopsies from living patients to study and learn more about these diseases. This also means tissue will be much more readily available for scientists to study,” said the lead researcher of the study. “This procedure could be used to study not only Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but also other neurodegenerative diseases.” To learn more about this study, click here.