Breakthrough: Adult Stem Cells & Parkinson's

Great – and, for anyone following the stunning medical advances being made thanks to ADULT Stem Cell Research – unsurprising news on the Parkinson’s front. Just as numerous spinal cord injuries are being successfully treated with ASC taken from nasal cavities, it looks there sufferers of Parkinson’s Disease may be helped, too.

SYDNEY, Australia, June 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New research on stem-cell therapy shows scientists have found that the cure for Parkinson’s disease may lie right under one’s nose – or rather, in it.

Researchers from Griffith University have published a study in the journal Stem Cells that has found adult stem-cells harvested from the noses of Parkinson’s patients developed into dopamine-producing brain cells upon being transplanted into the brain of a lab rat.

Professor Alan Mackay-Sim said researchers simulated Parkinson’s symptoms in rats by creating lesions on one side of the rat’s brain to imitate the damage Parkinson’s disease wreaks on the human brain. The lesions caused the rats to run in circles; however when stem-cells from the noses of Parkinson’s patients were injected into the affected area of the brain, the rats re-acquired the ability to run in a straight line.

According to Mackay-Sim, the evidence showed the injected stem-cells had differentiated into “dopamine-producing neurons influenced by being in the environment of the brain.”

Mackay-Sim explained that, like all stem-cells, these adult stem-cells from the olfactory nerve in the nose are “naïve,” since they have not yet differentiated into any particular type of cells.

“They can still be influenced by the environment they are put into. In this case we transplanted them into the brain, where they were directed to give rise to dopamine producing brain cells,” he added.

“Significantly, none of the transplants led to formation of tumours or teratomas in the host rats as has occurred after embryonic stem-cell transplantation in a similar model.” [Emphasis & links mine – admin]

Embryonic Stem Cell Research has yielded a lot of nightmares but no workable therapies.

After all the high drama and righteous noise about bad-old Bush refusing to let the government fund embryonic stem cell research, it seems a big Emily Letilla “nevermind” is in our futures, perhaps. Along with some very hopeful advances, (some great signs with ASC and cardiac muscles, now) successful treatments (possibly eradicating Sickle Cell Anemia and stroke?) and – we pray – more happy endings.