You better hope your doctor is initiating human research in this so your children and grandchildren can have this treatment available after their strokes.
Your risk of Parkinsons here:
Parkinson’s Disease May Have Link to Stroke March 2017
The latest here:
Replacement brain cells offer hope for Parkinson’s treatment
A new study that used adult blood stem cells to create replacement brain nerve cells appears to help rats with Parkinson’s.
In Parkinson’s, the disease attacks brain nerve cells that produce a chemical called dopamine. The lack of dopamine produces a variety of symptoms including physical tremors, depression, anxiety, insomnia and memory problems. There is no cure and while there are some effective treatments they tend to wear off over time.
In this study, researchers at Arizona State University took blood cells from humans and, using the iPSC method, changed those into dopamine-producing neurons. They then cultured those cells in the lab before implanting them in the brains of rats which had Parkinson’s-like symptoms.
They found that rats given cells that had been cultured in the lab for 17 days survived in greater numbers and seemed to be better at growing new connections in their brains, compared to rats given cells that had been cultured for 24 or 37 days.
In addition, those rats given larger doses of the cells experienced a complete reversal of their symptoms, compared to rats given smaller doses.
In a news release, study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Kordower, said: “We cannot be more excited by the opportunity to help individuals who suffer from [a] genetic form of Parkinson’s disease, but the lessons learned from this trial will also directly impact patients who suffer from sporadic, or non-genetic forms of this disease.”
The study, published in the journal npj Regenerative Medicine, says this approach might also help people suffering from other neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease.
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