Transplanted fetal stem cells for Parkinson's show promise
Friday, June 6, 2014 - 02:32
in Health & Medicine
Fetal dopamine cells transplanted into the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease were able to remain healthy and functional for up to 14 years, a finding that could lead to new and better therapies for the illness, researchers report. The researchers looked at the brains of five patients who got fetal cell transplants over a period of 14 years and found that their dopamine transporters (DAT), proteins that pump the neurotransmitter dopamine, and mitochondria were still healthy at the time the patients died, in each case of causes other than Parkinson's.