At the risk of being pounced upon, this is the AP version of the
previous post I sent...
Judith
June 28, 1999
Transplants Could Treat Parkinson's
By MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists may have found a way to generate unlimited
supplies of brain cells for transplanting into Parkinson's disease
patients.
Researchers are studying brain-cell transplants to help treat some
Parkinson's patients. But the source of those cells is problematic.
Getting them from aborted fetuses is controversial, and taking cells
from animals raises concern about introducing new diseases into people.
The new work focuses on brain cells called neural stem cells. These
cells, which can be grown in batches in the lab, can give rise to a
variety of specialized brain cell types and scientists are studying how
to control that process to produce the kinds of cells they want.
The new study, reported in the July issue of the journal Nature
Biotechnology, used stem cells from mice. Researchers said they were
able to produce brain cells that pump out the chemical dopamine, and
that's the kind of cell that is transplanted in Parkinson's disease.
The researchers are from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Harvard
Medical School and elsewhere. They gave the stem cells genes that
encourage development of dopamine-making cells, and exposed them to
other cells called astrocytes that provided chemical signals for proper
development.
Unfortunately, the resulting dopamine cells didn't survive well when
transplanted into mice.
The results are important but there are some caveats, Dr. Olle Lindvall
of the University Hospital in Lund, Sweden, wrote in an accompanying
editorial.
One is the poor survival after transplantation, which might be overcome.
Another is that human transplantation might require stem cells from
people rather than mice. Finally, Lindvall wrote,
it's not clear whether brain cells produced this way would really ease
Parkinson's symptoms.
Copyright © 1999 The Associated Press.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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