A
number of research groups are working on different approaches to regenerating the
neurons that fail and die in
Parkinson's disease. From
ScienceDaily: "a human
neural stem cell transplant essentially enables an
animal model for Parkinson's to continue functioning normally ... researchers compared animals that received
placebo treatment with those that received only protective
neurotrophic factors secreted by
stem cells and those that had a transplant. Animals that received transplants essentially regained control of their movement, placebo-treated animals did not recover and those that received neurotrophic factors, called stem cell factors, recovered partially. ...transplanted neural cells had formed synapses to communicate with each other and ultimately the
striatum, the portion of the brain
dopaminergic cells act on to control movement."
View the Article Under Discussion:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061204123212.htm
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/