This year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the publication of a writing by Dr. Phillipson and an interview about its content.
Oliver T. Phillipson is a Harvard scientist. A sage who accumulates decades of experience in the study of aging, mitochondria and Parkinson's disease. And he has a dream that I share. And I think many of us who participate in these forums as well, full of interest and hope:
SLOW DOWN AND REVERSE
THE PARKINSONIAN DEGENERATIVE PROCESS.
One of the ways to better understand what Parkinson's means today (end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first: Parkinson's diseases, orthodox and heterodox treatments, world of Parkinson's), it seems to me the chronological study of the work of the most notable researchers in some important aspect of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Phillipson stands out for the study of aging and mitochondrial damage. We have few sources: actually four. His 2013 study, an interview and two more studies:
2013. Inhibition of Aging in Parkinson’s Disease: A Case Study.
2014. Management of the aging risk factor for Parkinson's disease.
2017. Alpha-synuclein, epigenetics, mitochondria, metabolism, calcium traffic, & circadian dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. An integrated strategy for management.
In 2013, as mentioned below, the effectiveness of the five supplements used synergistically is proven: alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, coenzyme Q10, melatonin and vitamin E.
I think it's important to mention Zhang and colleagues' 2010 study on the combined use of R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine. Not only for its effectiveness, but for the fact that together they greatly increase their potency and require lower doses. (Zhang et al. 2010. Combined R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine exerts efficient preventative effects in a cellular model of Parkinson's disease. J Cell Mol Med.)
As well as the fact that he claims that coenzyme Q10 is very important, but not enough to defeat this hundred-headed hydra.
In 2014, the combination of alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, coenzyme Q10, and melatonin.
In 2017 he mentions R-lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, ubiquinol, melatonin (or receptor agonists), and vitamin D3.
Like many other great neuroscientists, both in the field of Neurology and in other scientific specialties, they have come to focus on the mitochondria, the cellular energy factory.
Just as Dr. William Osler ("father" of modern medicine) nearly 100 years ago considered Parkinson's to be an accelerated aging of the brain, Phillipson now focuses on the "normal" aging process and its similarities and differences with Parkinson's.
Two excerpts from the interview in which the author reveals safe clues about Parkinson's in general:
"… many of the disease markers for PD are also found in normal aging though in less severe form. This includes recent findings of under expressed epigenetic signaling factors which control energy metabolism and antioxidant control. In some respects, therefore, but not all, PD can be viewed as a severe aging process. Putting right these energy deficits resulting from gene and mitochondrial dysfunction seen in both normal aging and PD, might therefore be an effective way to reduce the impact of disease progression. Results from research into normal aging have yielded nutritional methods by which this might be achieved."
"…this combination of supplements (derived from research into normal aging), is known to improve energy metabolism, mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stresses which are known to be damaging to key elements of metabolic pathways important for energy production. Perhaps more importantly they also improve the epigenetic expression of factors which control the de novo biosynthesis of mitochondria and maintain their structural integrity."
I believe that Dr. Phillipson will leave a very important mark on this silent revolution that we live in and on the road to the definitive cure of this disease.
---
In the book I published in 2022 in English, "The cure for Parkinson's", I mention him in several pages:
392
"Oliver Phillipson's 2013 article teaches us valuable lessons. He used coenzyme Q10, but realised that it alone cannot cope with the overwhelming power of Parkinson's disease, but in combination or synergy with others. Together they were able to beat the disease."
313-315
"3. Phillipson's protocol.
The figure of Oliver T. Phillipson seems to me to be very important in the world of Parkinson's as we will see in the future.
He has a very interesting "Letter to the Editor" published in 2013. For what he says and for the coincidences with other protocols and studies by neurologists such as Perlmutter.
It refers to a patient with Parkinson's disease. He was taking conventional treatment and Phillipson was adding supplements with little success over 11 years until he got a set of them in the right doses and acting synergistically alongside the allopathic treatment.
Usual medication:
carbidopa/levodopa (750 mg/d),
pramipexole (300 mg/d),
entacapone (600 mg/d),
amitriptyline (25 mg/d).
Supplements:
melatonin (0.2-0.8 mg at night),
a-lipoic acid (200 mg/d),
acetyl-l-carnitine (250 mg/d),
CoQ (maintenance dose 200-400 mg/d)
and vitamin E (400 IU/d).
I find the conclusions reached by Professor Phillipson very interesting. The possibility of acting on Parkinson's disease by revitalising the mitochondria and slowing down ageing.
Previous experience of using Coenzyme Q10 alone in early Parkinson's disease suggests that it may result in a limited slowing of progression, but, nevertheless, progression continued and there was no improvement in motor function and no reversal of Parkinson's disease symptoms.
In contrast, in the present case, Parkinson's disease symptoms appear to be resolved and progression was halted with the combination of melatonin, a-lipoic acid plus acetyl-l-carnitine and Coenzyme Q10.
For example, Coenzyme Q10 alone could not stop it, but in combination with others, it did its job effectively.
The supplements were selected to support the function of ageing mitochondria by maintaining cellular energy resources and resisting oxidative and nitrosative stress."
(Jesus Marquez Rivera, "Parkinson's here and now").
