Stem cells and Parkinson's disease: toward a treatment, not a cure.
Early clinical trials designed to treat Parkinson's disease by transplantation of fetal tissue containing dopamine neuron precursors yielded promising results, but the approach retains several limitations. Multiple recent papers describe longer-term outcomes in these patients, and two additional studies offer novel approaches that may lead to autologous sources of transplantable dopamine neurons.
Svendsen
Clive
C
Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA. cnsvendsen@wisc.edu
D000818:Animals; D054338:Cell Transdifferentiation; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D051381:Rats; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology
D004298:Dopamine