A article on science daily was published regarding how monkeys
with Parkinson's disease are benefiting from human stem cells.
Parkinson's disease degenerates cells in the brain known
as dopaminergic (DA) neurons. When the symptoms of Parkinson's are found, it
most likely appears that more than half of the DA neurons are lost in the brain
of the individual. Neurosurgeons are planning on using DA neurons created from
iPS cells to treat these patients with the disease. iPS cells are made from
blood and skin cells which makes them easily obtainable. This idea is being
tested for its safety and reliability, so they are trying the experiment on
monkeys that have Parkinson's by transplanting the new cells in the monkeys
brains.
I believe this could be a
remarkable and cheap breakthrough if it works. Scientists were usually using
fetal tissue to create DA neurons . Studies mentioned on how the
transplant of these cells aid and help relieve symptoms of the disease. But
using fetal tissues in general is a controversial topic. The use of iPS cells
can help substitute the use of fetal tissue to treat patients.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170830132224.htm
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v548/n7669/full/nature23664.html?foxtrotcallback=true
Hello Karolis,
ReplyDeleteI am very intrigued in reading this article. Stem cell therapy is a huge advantage in some cases. If we can use human stem cells to help treat monkeys with Parkinson's disease it would be interesting to see if we can someday use stem cells from another animal to treat Parkinson's disease in humans.