Earwax With an Unusual Odor May Help Detect Parkinson’s Before It Worsens
Earwax is not exactly the most attractive part of our body, but it may be an effective tool for detecting Parkinson’s disease. Scientists are now closer inside the ears to grasp a precious substance called sebum, a major ear component.
A study recently published in Analytical chemistry has shown that Sebum could be a sign of Parkinson’s disease, all due to a distinct odor that it gives off in people diagnosed with the disease. Although the current Parkinson screening methods – such as clinical evaluation scales and neuronal imaging – can be expensive, tests with sebum could offer an inexpensive alternative.
Parkinson’s progressive symptoms
As a progressive neurodegenerative disease, Parkinson requires early intervention to ensure the best possible care. The disease causes the deterioration of nerve cells in the brain, a process that triggers a series of aggravation symptoms.
The disease begins with light symptoms that generally do not interfere with daily activities: slight movement problems, tremors, stiffness or altered balance. Then, while it worsens over time, more debilitating symptoms begin to occur, the difficulty of walking and speaking chief among them. Parkinson’s is classified as five stages, with a stage 5 characterized by the most serious disabilities which require 24 -hour assistance.
According to the Parkinson Foundation, an estimate 1.1 million people In the United States, live with Parkinson, and the number should reach 1.2 million by 2030. In addition, around 90,000 people in the United States are diagnosed each year with the disease.
Learn more:: Could your smartwatch help diagnose Parkinson earlier?
The meaning of ear fashion
The need to detect Parkinson is more urgent than ever, and the achievement of an ear – mainly made of sebum – can be a cheap resource to make the treatment early possible.
Previous research has already established a link between Sebum and Parkinson. The oily substance is not only found in our single, but also comes from sebaceous glands in all our skin – it is particularly abundant on the forehead and the upper back. The sebum function is to help our skin keep moisture, but it also has an additional quirking in people with Parkinson.
Sebum in people with parkinson has a unique smell Due to the progression of the disease, the modification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) it releases. These changes are produced by neurodegeneration, inflammation of the system and oxidative stress, according to a statement on the recent study. This means that sebum could be a potential biomarker for the disease. In rare cases, some people may even be able to sniff the start of Parkinson; A 2019 study Identified a woman as a “super odor” because she had noticed a change in her husband’s body smell before he was diagnosed with Parkinson.
Sebum on the skin, however, can be modified by environmental factors such as air pollution and humidity, complicating its role as a biomarker. The researchers involved in the study recognized that the auditory duct would therefore be the perfect sebum source, because the substance would be protected from the elements.
Standing for biomarkers
To find VOCs in the sebum associated with that of Parkinson, the researchers escaped the ear canals of 209 human subjects (108 of which were diagnosed with the disease). Analyzing wax with gaseous phase chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques, they found four different VOCs in those with Parkinson compared to those without illness: ethylbenzene, 4-ethyltolène, Pentanal and 2-Pentadecyl-1,3-Dioxolane.
The researchers then created an Olfactory Artificial Intelligence (AIO) system using data wax voc data. The model was able to distinguish the people’s ear samples with and without parkinson with 94%precision. Researchers say that the success of the AIO model could justify a new screening tool to detect Parkinson when it started.
In the future, researchers plan to conduct additional research on different stages of Parkinson and focus on various ethnic groups to determine whether these ear wasting tests could really be a reliable screening method.
This article does not offer medical advice and should be used for information purposes only.
Find out more: Living near a golf course could increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease
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Jack Knudson is a deputy editor -in -chief to discover with a strong interest in environmental sciences and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Ohio University Scripps College of Communication and previously interned at Recycling TODAY magazine.
