Most people have heard of the incurable disease of the nervous system that causes stiffness and tremors, Parkinson’s disease. Not many people, however, would link this disease to the small, dysfunctional sac attached to the large intestine: the appendix. 
A neuroscientist, Heiko Braak, proposed more than 10 years ago that Parkinson’s disease originated in the gut and progressed to the brain. Although controversial still today, research indicates that Braak may have been correct.
In the brain of an individual with Parkinson’s disease, there are aggregated and misfolded proteins known as a-synuclein (aS). The clumped state of this protein causes damage to the neurons in the brain that are responsible for movement. Before the effect to the brain, however, there are often gastrointestinal effects, such as constipation. 
A new study published in Sciencemagazine, by neuroscientist Viviane Labrie and colleagues at the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has shed light on the fact that there is, indeed, a connection between the appendix and Parkinson’s disease. The team studied a population of Swedish people for an extended amount of time using their medical records. 
They found that the individuals who received an appendectomy had a 20% lower chance of developing Parkinson’s disease if they were living in rural areas. In urban areas, the appendectomy was not preventative of the disease. These results also indicate that environmental factors affect the development of Parkinson’s disease. 
In addition to these results, the team found similar clumps of aS seen with Parkinson’s in the appendix of over 95% of the individuals. When the normal proteins were exposed to a healthy appendix in a laboratory setting, the proteins shortened, which makes them more likely to become clumped and better suited to move to the brain. 
In response to this shocking evidence of the connection between the appendix and Parkinson’s disease, Labrie is studying to discover why some people develop Parkinson’s from this abnormal protein and some do not. 
Whether it is an infection that could cause overproduction of the protein in the appendix or simply a body’s capability of managing the protein, they are currently unsure. Labrie says, “Preventative surgery is too far,” but this new research could change how the world looks at and possibly treats this disease.
Maybe appendicitis wouldn’t be the worst thing.