Fetal cell or stem cell derived treatment for Parkinson´s disease
4 Jun, 15 | by BMJ
by Arnar Astradsson and Tipu Z. Aziz
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons which results in the cardinal symptoms of tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia and postural instability. The mainstay of therapy has been pharmacological substitution of dopamine using levodopa. However, after years of pharmacological therapy eventually the benefits may wear off and side effects such as dyskinesias may develop. Deep brain stimulation of the pallidum or subthalamic nucleus is also being used, which effectively controls the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. As an alternative to pharmacological therapy or electrostimulation, cell-based therapies that reconstruct the nigrostriatal pathways have been developed with the transplantation of fetal ventral midbrain neurons into the striatum of PD patients. more…