BEE VENOM TREATMENT FOR PARKINSON​
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What is Parkinson’s disease?
We can define Parkinson’s disease, as a neurological disorder that affects elderly people – most subjects of this disease are 50 years old or even above. Parkinson’s is common in both men and women, but it has been observed that the ratio of men receiving this disease is slightly greater than that of women. |
A person suffering from Parkinson’s disease experiences the slow death of neurotransmitter dopamine – produced by the neurons. Eventually, the level of dopamine starts falling in the brain. What does dopamine do? Dopamine is responsible for transmitting signals to different parts of the body. If the level of dopamine drops, it leads to poor signals and as a result, the response gets slow and somebody parts even start shaking.
What are the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
Symptoms start appearing, as soon as the dopamine generating neurons die. It is interesting to note here that, there is no effective medicine that can cure this disease. Medicines available just help in controlling the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s. It is called a progressive disease; it means that the symptoms tend to get worse with time.
This disease develops at a very slow pace and as said the symptoms take ample time to surface. When the movement-related issues start, it means that the level of dopamine has dropped dangerously. A person can have Parkinson’s for years and never know about it.
How does Parkinson’s progress?
In the beginning, it is only the dopamine system, which is affected greatly. As the disease continues to progress, other signal bodies like serotonin and acetylcholine also start diminishing. When the level of these two chemicals starts to drop, it leads to dementia, poor sleep rhythm, depression, anxiety, stress, impaired learning ability, and wakefulness.
The autonomic nervous system is also affected by Parkinson's and that can lead to excessive sweating, gastrointestinal and bladder problems, and disturbed blood pressure. This disease doesn't need to progress in the same manner for every other subject of Parkinson's. Symptoms can vary greatly and several factors can aggravate the symptoms like having a chronic disease or illness along with Parkinson's.
Can Parkinson’s be reversed?
As said earlier that there is no medical cure available for this disease hence, it is difficult to manage it. But different modern treatments can increase the level of dopamine in the brain and thus lessen the severity of associated symptoms. It is also understood that the initial symptoms take several years to appear – the premotor symptoms – and a person needs to be well aware of them. And they are constant depression, impaired activity, constipation, REM sleep disorder and an impaired sense of smell.
Bee Venom, A Treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
If we examine different clinical studies, it can be seen that sometimes an unexpected trial leads to discoveries. Here we are going to discuss a clinical examination that has opened doors for the researchers to come up with an effective treatment for dealing with symptoms of Parkinson's disease. It has been observed that bee venom can hinder and control the degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons. A clinical study, which is available at MyScienceWork, represents satisfactory results of bee venom treatment and that brings hope to fight Parkinson's disease (neurodegenerative disorder).
This discussion is a part of a French article, 'Le venin d'abeille Contre la Maladie de Parkinson', published by Timothee Froelich. More than 100,000 people, each year, are affected by Parkinson's disease in France. If we talk about conventional medicines then certainly L-Dopa is the best choice, which is a dopamine agonist. Recent researches have helped in exploring new therapeutic options. Bee venom is one of the best natural treatment options that reduce symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in mutant mice. Now the question arises, will such type of clinical examinations help subjects of Parkinson’s disease feel better?
Dopaminergic neurons degeneration
Pitie Salpetriere, who is a neurologist, states that young people who consumed heroin contracted Parkinson's diseases and there was no apparent reason behind that. This disorder affects the dopaminergic neurons, which innervate the striatum – nervous system responsible for multiple motor functions. The recurrent symptom is called akinesia that leads to tremors and rigidity even when a person is at rest. It was concluded that heroin consists of a molecule MPTP, which leads to Parkinson's disease in its users. Now, researchers are making use of MPTP to induce neurodegenerative disorder in the lab animals.
Bee venom can control the symptoms
The first idea of using bee venom for Parkinson's disease was derived from a lab study. There was a patient, suffering from Parkinson's disease, treated with different doses of bee venom every month. The subject was a beekeeper. It was eventually found that the symptoms of this disease regressed with time.
The dose was brought down as soon as the patient started feeling better. Andreas Hartmann stated that we started to examine his behavior closely and even recorded his activity to have a better understanding of this phenomenon. Results of this experiment have helped scientists to place focus on apamin, an active component of bee venom, to be studied for dealing with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Honeybee venom has a special function that impacts dopaminergic neurons and helps them survive.
Bee venom study
To have a better consideration of this hypothesis, the team of Andreas Hartmann devised a thorough clinical study with mice being the experiment model. Parkinson's disease was injected in mice with MPTP injection administered rightly for 5 weeks. After the first injection of MPTP, apamin was also given after 48 hours. It was observed that the process of degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons came to a halt. But In a few model mice, it was noted down that there were secondary effects of apamin, quite visible. According to Andreas Hartmann, when a peptide is incorporated in the macromolecule, it can have a different level of toxicity if compared with the same macromolecule in isolation.
Hope for the patients of Parkinson's disease
Andreas Hartmann also explains that proper precautions need to be taken before administering bee venom. The reason is that, though bee venom can alleviate symptoms of Parkinson's disease some patients, who are hypersensitive, can show severe allergic reactions – in France, a lot of people die each year due to fatal bee stings. So, here one needs to take care of the dose intensity and cycle. And for that reason, apamin must be studied intensively so that it can be used as a proper medicine for treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The allergenic elements, present in bee venom, have some sort of protagonist effect and that might be safeguarding the dopaminergic neurons.
However, this clinical discovery offers a lot of promises for coming up with ideal treatment for Parkinson's disease. Though, a lot of clinical experiments will be required to regulate a proper bee venom therapy regime, as there are multiple therapeutic prospects associated with it. Bee venom is not only useful for Parkinson’s; there is plenty of clinical data available that suggests its role in controlling various types of inflammations. Saving bees could eventually help treat and save humans too and killing them means there is also a ‘the end’ for us.
Bee Venom for the Treatment of Parkinson Disease – A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
In this study, disease-modifying and potential symptomatic effects of bee venom injections were examined in the subjects of Parkinson's disease. 40 patients were chosen, for a randomized double-blind study, which was at Yahr and Hoehn stages 3 to 1.5. They were given bee venom injections or an equal volume of saline every month. The main objective of this clinical study was to determine the potential symptomatic effects of 100µg s.c bee venom injections in comparison with placebo 11 months after starting therapy on the UPDRS III scores (United Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale) in off condition with a pre-injection and post-injection 60 minutes.
The secondary objective of this clinical study was to determine the evolution of the UPDRS III score during the examination period and conduct [123I]-FP-CIT scans to see how the disease is progressing. Skin tests were carried out when and where necessary and safety was figured out through a specific IgE BV. It was observed that bee venom administration, spread over a course of 11 months, did not bring down the UPDRS III scores in ‘off’ condition. Adding further, the UPDRS III scores and nuclear imaging revealed not a greater difference between different treatment groups.
Only 4 patients were removed from this clinical examination, as they resulted in positive for the skin tests. Interestingly they did not show any sort of systematic allergic reaction. Specific IgE against the BV demonstrated a reduction in all of the patients who completed the examination. However, this clinical study did not bring forward any specific evidence related to disease or symptomatic modifying effects of BV – administered for 11 months when compared with placebo that made use of a bee venom allergy desensitization procedure in the patients of Parkinson's disease. But it was noticed that bee venom injections were safe for those patients, who didn't show any allergic reaction. It is finally suggested that a high dose and high administration frequency of bee venom can institute its true potency for treating Parkinson’s disease.
Bee Venom and It's Component Apamin as Neuroprotective Agents in a Parkinson Disease Mouse Model
PD (Parkinson’s disease) is defined as a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to motor symptoms due to progressive loss of DA (dopamine) neurons. Asymptomatic therapy can be used to control the symptoms but, as it is a progressive disease it eventually leads to some sort of disability. Therefore, a proper strategy is required to delay the onset of Parkinson's disease through long term treatment.
Apis mellifera (a component of bee venom) is known to protect DA neurons and save them from any sort of degeneration. It has also been found that a bilateral acupoint incitation of the lower hind limbs, through bee venom is effective in acute MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine) mice models. But a specific molecular analysis of this mechanism is quintessential for its characterization, as BV is composed of different chemical agents like amines, enzymes, and polypeptides.
Two different series of clinical experiments were carried out after choosing a proper dose of apamin and bee venom. There were two types of doses, low and high, for Alyostal (bee venom) one was at low=12µg/kg/BW while the other one at high=120µmg/kg/BW while apamin also had two doses, one at low:0.5µmg/kg/BW and the other one at high:1.0µg/kg/BW. For the first experiment, these doses were chosen to assess brain lesions through which cell numbers and neurotransmitters were also analyzed.
The second set of clinical experiments aimed to determine behavioral patterns through high doses of apamin 1.0mg/kg/BW and bee venom 120µg/kg/BW. These doses were administered based on results obtained from the first set of examinations. ELISA was used in the second examination group to assess striatal cytokines.
The TH cell count in SNpc demonstrated that apamin and bee venom can protect nigral DA neurons from the MPTP intoxication. At both doses of either compound, the effects were found to be quite significant. Nissl counterstains showed that the loss of TH+ neurons in SNpc was related to the actual loss of cells and not limited to the downregulation of the TH expression.
Data gathered from the clinical investigation suggests that BV can support the protection of the dopaminergic neurons in model mice subjected to Parkinson's disease. Apamin is a special blocker of the SK channels that partially regenerated this protective effect. This tells those bee venom components to work in parallel to strengthen the protective effect of peptides found in bee venom. It also supports a decline in the striatal dopamine level of the control mice, which possibly indicates a harmful potential in the non-PD individuals. It is to be noted here that further clinical investigations are being carried out with the help of distinct bee venom doses and regime on the advanced level patients of Parkinson's disease.
What are the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
Symptoms start appearing, as soon as the dopamine generating neurons die. It is interesting to note here that, there is no effective medicine that can cure this disease. Medicines available just help in controlling the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s. It is called a progressive disease; it means that the symptoms tend to get worse with time.
This disease develops at a very slow pace and as said the symptoms take ample time to surface. When the movement-related issues start, it means that the level of dopamine has dropped dangerously. A person can have Parkinson’s for years and never know about it.
How does Parkinson’s progress?
In the beginning, it is only the dopamine system, which is affected greatly. As the disease continues to progress, other signal bodies like serotonin and acetylcholine also start diminishing. When the level of these two chemicals starts to drop, it leads to dementia, poor sleep rhythm, depression, anxiety, stress, impaired learning ability, and wakefulness.
The autonomic nervous system is also affected by Parkinson's and that can lead to excessive sweating, gastrointestinal and bladder problems, and disturbed blood pressure. This disease doesn't need to progress in the same manner for every other subject of Parkinson's. Symptoms can vary greatly and several factors can aggravate the symptoms like having a chronic disease or illness along with Parkinson's.
Can Parkinson’s be reversed?
As said earlier that there is no medical cure available for this disease hence, it is difficult to manage it. But different modern treatments can increase the level of dopamine in the brain and thus lessen the severity of associated symptoms. It is also understood that the initial symptoms take several years to appear – the premotor symptoms – and a person needs to be well aware of them. And they are constant depression, impaired activity, constipation, REM sleep disorder and an impaired sense of smell.
Bee Venom, A Treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
If we examine different clinical studies, it can be seen that sometimes an unexpected trial leads to discoveries. Here we are going to discuss a clinical examination that has opened doors for the researchers to come up with an effective treatment for dealing with symptoms of Parkinson's disease. It has been observed that bee venom can hinder and control the degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons. A clinical study, which is available at MyScienceWork, represents satisfactory results of bee venom treatment and that brings hope to fight Parkinson's disease (neurodegenerative disorder).
This discussion is a part of a French article, 'Le venin d'abeille Contre la Maladie de Parkinson', published by Timothee Froelich. More than 100,000 people, each year, are affected by Parkinson's disease in France. If we talk about conventional medicines then certainly L-Dopa is the best choice, which is a dopamine agonist. Recent researches have helped in exploring new therapeutic options. Bee venom is one of the best natural treatment options that reduce symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in mutant mice. Now the question arises, will such type of clinical examinations help subjects of Parkinson’s disease feel better?
Dopaminergic neurons degeneration
Pitie Salpetriere, who is a neurologist, states that young people who consumed heroin contracted Parkinson's diseases and there was no apparent reason behind that. This disorder affects the dopaminergic neurons, which innervate the striatum – nervous system responsible for multiple motor functions. The recurrent symptom is called akinesia that leads to tremors and rigidity even when a person is at rest. It was concluded that heroin consists of a molecule MPTP, which leads to Parkinson's disease in its users. Now, researchers are making use of MPTP to induce neurodegenerative disorder in the lab animals.
Bee venom can control the symptoms
The first idea of using bee venom for Parkinson's disease was derived from a lab study. There was a patient, suffering from Parkinson's disease, treated with different doses of bee venom every month. The subject was a beekeeper. It was eventually found that the symptoms of this disease regressed with time.
The dose was brought down as soon as the patient started feeling better. Andreas Hartmann stated that we started to examine his behavior closely and even recorded his activity to have a better understanding of this phenomenon. Results of this experiment have helped scientists to place focus on apamin, an active component of bee venom, to be studied for dealing with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Honeybee venom has a special function that impacts dopaminergic neurons and helps them survive.
Bee venom study
To have a better consideration of this hypothesis, the team of Andreas Hartmann devised a thorough clinical study with mice being the experiment model. Parkinson's disease was injected in mice with MPTP injection administered rightly for 5 weeks. After the first injection of MPTP, apamin was also given after 48 hours. It was observed that the process of degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons came to a halt. But In a few model mice, it was noted down that there were secondary effects of apamin, quite visible. According to Andreas Hartmann, when a peptide is incorporated in the macromolecule, it can have a different level of toxicity if compared with the same macromolecule in isolation.
Hope for the patients of Parkinson's disease
Andreas Hartmann also explains that proper precautions need to be taken before administering bee venom. The reason is that, though bee venom can alleviate symptoms of Parkinson's disease some patients, who are hypersensitive, can show severe allergic reactions – in France, a lot of people die each year due to fatal bee stings. So, here one needs to take care of the dose intensity and cycle. And for that reason, apamin must be studied intensively so that it can be used as a proper medicine for treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The allergenic elements, present in bee venom, have some sort of protagonist effect and that might be safeguarding the dopaminergic neurons.
However, this clinical discovery offers a lot of promises for coming up with ideal treatment for Parkinson's disease. Though, a lot of clinical experiments will be required to regulate a proper bee venom therapy regime, as there are multiple therapeutic prospects associated with it. Bee venom is not only useful for Parkinson’s; there is plenty of clinical data available that suggests its role in controlling various types of inflammations. Saving bees could eventually help treat and save humans too and killing them means there is also a ‘the end’ for us.
Bee Venom for the Treatment of Parkinson Disease – A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
In this study, disease-modifying and potential symptomatic effects of bee venom injections were examined in the subjects of Parkinson's disease. 40 patients were chosen, for a randomized double-blind study, which was at Yahr and Hoehn stages 3 to 1.5. They were given bee venom injections or an equal volume of saline every month. The main objective of this clinical study was to determine the potential symptomatic effects of 100µg s.c bee venom injections in comparison with placebo 11 months after starting therapy on the UPDRS III scores (United Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale) in off condition with a pre-injection and post-injection 60 minutes.
The secondary objective of this clinical study was to determine the evolution of the UPDRS III score during the examination period and conduct [123I]-FP-CIT scans to see how the disease is progressing. Skin tests were carried out when and where necessary and safety was figured out through a specific IgE BV. It was observed that bee venom administration, spread over a course of 11 months, did not bring down the UPDRS III scores in ‘off’ condition. Adding further, the UPDRS III scores and nuclear imaging revealed not a greater difference between different treatment groups.
Only 4 patients were removed from this clinical examination, as they resulted in positive for the skin tests. Interestingly they did not show any sort of systematic allergic reaction. Specific IgE against the BV demonstrated a reduction in all of the patients who completed the examination. However, this clinical study did not bring forward any specific evidence related to disease or symptomatic modifying effects of BV – administered for 11 months when compared with placebo that made use of a bee venom allergy desensitization procedure in the patients of Parkinson's disease. But it was noticed that bee venom injections were safe for those patients, who didn't show any allergic reaction. It is finally suggested that a high dose and high administration frequency of bee venom can institute its true potency for treating Parkinson’s disease.
Bee Venom and It's Component Apamin as Neuroprotective Agents in a Parkinson Disease Mouse Model
PD (Parkinson’s disease) is defined as a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to motor symptoms due to progressive loss of DA (dopamine) neurons. Asymptomatic therapy can be used to control the symptoms but, as it is a progressive disease it eventually leads to some sort of disability. Therefore, a proper strategy is required to delay the onset of Parkinson's disease through long term treatment.
Apis mellifera (a component of bee venom) is known to protect DA neurons and save them from any sort of degeneration. It has also been found that a bilateral acupoint incitation of the lower hind limbs, through bee venom is effective in acute MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine) mice models. But a specific molecular analysis of this mechanism is quintessential for its characterization, as BV is composed of different chemical agents like amines, enzymes, and polypeptides.
Two different series of clinical experiments were carried out after choosing a proper dose of apamin and bee venom. There were two types of doses, low and high, for Alyostal (bee venom) one was at low=12µg/kg/BW while the other one at high=120µmg/kg/BW while apamin also had two doses, one at low:0.5µmg/kg/BW and the other one at high:1.0µg/kg/BW. For the first experiment, these doses were chosen to assess brain lesions through which cell numbers and neurotransmitters were also analyzed.
The second set of clinical experiments aimed to determine behavioral patterns through high doses of apamin 1.0mg/kg/BW and bee venom 120µg/kg/BW. These doses were administered based on results obtained from the first set of examinations. ELISA was used in the second examination group to assess striatal cytokines.
The TH cell count in SNpc demonstrated that apamin and bee venom can protect nigral DA neurons from the MPTP intoxication. At both doses of either compound, the effects were found to be quite significant. Nissl counterstains showed that the loss of TH+ neurons in SNpc was related to the actual loss of cells and not limited to the downregulation of the TH expression.
Data gathered from the clinical investigation suggests that BV can support the protection of the dopaminergic neurons in model mice subjected to Parkinson's disease. Apamin is a special blocker of the SK channels that partially regenerated this protective effect. This tells those bee venom components to work in parallel to strengthen the protective effect of peptides found in bee venom. It also supports a decline in the striatal dopamine level of the control mice, which possibly indicates a harmful potential in the non-PD individuals. It is to be noted here that further clinical investigations are being carried out with the help of distinct bee venom doses and regime on the advanced level patients of Parkinson's disease.
Sources:
Effectiveness of acupuncture and bee venom acupuncture in idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
Bee venom has possess beneficial effects in the treatment of Parkinson disease.
Bee venom, a treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
Bee Venom for the Treatment of Parkinson Disease – A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
Bee Venom and Its Component Apamin as Neuroprotective Agents in a Parkinson Disease Mouse Model
Bee Venom Alleviates Motor Deficits and Modulates the Transfer of Cortical Information through the Basal Ganglia in Rat Models of Parkinson’s Disease
Dose-Dependent Neuroprotective Effect of Standardized Bee Venom Phospholipase A2 Against MPTP-Induced Parkinson’s Disease in Mice
Nationwide Survey of Patient Knowledge and Attitudes towards Human Experimentation Using Stem Cells or Bee Venom Acupuncture for Parkinson’s Disease
Bee venom phospholipase A2 ameliorates motor dysfunction and modulates microglia activation in Parkinson's disease alpha-synuclein transgenic mice
Pharmacoacupuncture for Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Comparison of Administration Routes on the Protective Effects of Bee Venom Phospholipase A2 in a Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease
Correction: Bee Venom for the Treatment of Parkinson Disease – A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
Effectiveness of acupuncture and bee venom acupuncture in idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
Bee venom has possess beneficial effects in the treatment of Parkinson disease.
Bee venom, a treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
Bee Venom for the Treatment of Parkinson Disease – A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
Bee Venom and Its Component Apamin as Neuroprotective Agents in a Parkinson Disease Mouse Model
Bee Venom Alleviates Motor Deficits and Modulates the Transfer of Cortical Information through the Basal Ganglia in Rat Models of Parkinson’s Disease
Dose-Dependent Neuroprotective Effect of Standardized Bee Venom Phospholipase A2 Against MPTP-Induced Parkinson’s Disease in Mice
Nationwide Survey of Patient Knowledge and Attitudes towards Human Experimentation Using Stem Cells or Bee Venom Acupuncture for Parkinson’s Disease
Bee venom phospholipase A2 ameliorates motor dysfunction and modulates microglia activation in Parkinson's disease alpha-synuclein transgenic mice
Pharmacoacupuncture for Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Comparison of Administration Routes on the Protective Effects of Bee Venom Phospholipase A2 in a Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease
Correction: Bee Venom for the Treatment of Parkinson Disease – A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
