Fetal Pig Neural Cells Survive In Patient With Parkinson's Disease

http://www.reutershealth.com/news/docs/199702/19970228scd.html

      WESTPORT, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Transplantation of brain cells from
      fetal pigs into the
     brains of patients with Parkinson's disease may be a viable
     alternative to use of human tissue, according to an article in
     the March issue of Nature Medicine.

     Dr. Ole Isacson of Harvard Medical School reports with colleagues
     on a postmortem analysis of tissue from one of 12 patients who
     had been transplanted with fetal pig mesencephalic cells. This
     patient, a 69-year-old man, died of a pulmonary embolism nearly
     eight months after the transplant. Until then, his recovery had
     been encouraging, Dr. Isacson writes.

     Dr. Isacson explains that the cells had been placed unilaterally
     in the patient's caudate-putamen region. On autopsy, "...graft
     survival was found and the presence of pig dopaminergic neurons
     and other pig neural and glial cells [was] documented," the
     authors report. "Pig neurons extended axons from the graft sites
     into the host brain. Furthermore, other graft derived cells were
     observed several millimeters from the implantation sites. Markers
     for human microglia and T-cells showed only low reactivity in
     direct proximity to the grafts."

     "This is the first documentation of neural xenograft survival in
     the human brain and of appropriate growth of nonhuman
     dopaminergic neurons for a potential therapeutic response in
     Parkinson's disease," Dr. Isacson concludes.

     Nature Medicine 1997;3:350-353.


----------------

SIBIA, Meiji Seika Kaisha In Asian Licensing Pact

http://www.reutershealth.com/news/docs/199703/19970305inf.html

     STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Mar 05 (Reuters) - A Swedish owner of U.S.
     SIBIA Neurosciences Inc. said on Tuesday that SIBIA has signed a
     licensing agreement with Japan's Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd. for
     SIB-1508Y, a treatment for Parkinson's disease, according to
     Reuters Business Briefing.

     Skandigen said in a statement released in Stockholm that the
     agreement relating to SIB-1508Y covered Japan, China and other
     Asian countries.

---------------

Muscle Sounds Change In Parkinson's Disease

http://www.reutershealth.com/news/rhdn/199702/1997022702.html

      NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) -- The muscles of people with
      untreated Parkinson's
     disease produce sounds that are different from those found in
     healthy individuals, according to a new study.

     Listening with a stethoscope, researchers have found that the
     wrist muscles of Parkinson's patients produce vibrations at a
     much lower sound frequency than normal during strong and repeated
     activity.

     But when the patients receive their medication (Levodopa), normal
     muscle sounds are restored along with improved movement ability.

     "The vibrations produced by muscle activity can, with the aid of
     a stethoscope, tell us a great deal about the control of muscles
     by the brain, because the frequency of muscle sound reflects the
     pattern of (the brain's) motor-unit activation," says Dr. P.
     Brown, a research neurologist with the National Hospital for
     Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, England.

     According to the researcher, "one of the most interesting muscle
     sounds is a somewhat impure tone of around 40-50 hertz, commonly
     heard as the noise that accompanies a spontaneous yawn, or if the
     jaw is moved when the ear is blocked with soap suds." A hertz
     (Hz) is a unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second.

     It is this sound -- or range of frequencies -- Brown says, that
     was first identified by Hans Piper in 1912, and which since then
     is referred to as the "Piper-band sound."

     During forceful muscle contractions, which are difficult for
     Parkinson's patients, these are high-frequency, rhythmic bursts
     of sound, which represent the firing of many motor nerves.

     Brown says these "Piper-style rhythms are lost in untreated
     Parkinson's disease," and in their place are the lower frequency
     sounds of muscle fibers that are vibrating too slowly, thereby
     causing the slow movements and low muscle strength that typify
     people with the disease.

     SOURCE: The Lancet (1997;349:533-535)

-----------------

Parkinson's Disease Patients Can Maintain Exercise Capacity

     WESTPORT, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Parkinson's disease patients with
     mild to moderate disease are able to maintain their exercise
     capacity with regular aerobic training, despite typical
     respiratory and gait abnormalities.

     Colleen G. Canning, from the University of Sydney, and a team of
     Australian investigators identified 16 volunteers with mild to
     moderate Parkinson's disease and measured their maximum exercise
     capacity on a cycle ergometer in relation to respiratory and
     walking function.

     Overall, exercise capacity as measured by peak oxygen consumption
     and peak work load was not significantly different from normal.
     This finding is in contrast to previous reports of reduced
     exercise capacity in Parkinson's patients. The investigators
     point out that the majority of their study subjects adhere to a
     regular exercise schedule, which "...may have contributed to the
     maintenance of normal exercise capacity." In fact, further
     analysis showed a "...significant correlation between exercise
     habits and exercise test results, with all sedentary subjects
     producing lower percent predicted [oxygen consumption] peaks than
     those individuals who performed regular aerobic exercise."

     "Since life expectancy for people with [Parkinson's disease] is
     now near normal, a major issue in the management of people with
     [Parkinson's disease] is the maintenance of quality life," the
     Australian researchers note. This study sets the groundwork to
     further evaluate the benefits of exercise training programs for
     Parkinson's patients.

     Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1997;78:199-207.







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