How can Stem Cell Research help Parkinson’s Disease?
Parkinson's disease develops as a result of the brain's dopamine-producing neurons slowly dying off. The enigmatic treatment that either slows the progression of the condition or offers a cure may be found through stem cell therapy, sometimes referred to as cell replacement therapy. The symptoms of Parkinson's are treated by current medications, but their results are not always long-lasting and they may also have unintended adverse effects. A breakthrough in the treatment of the condition would result from the success of stem cell therapy.
Research on stem cells and Parkinson's
Understanding how nerve cells originate, why some die, and how healthy cells might be used to restore lost brain cells are the main goals of stem cell research in Parkinson's disease. With this understanding, it might be able to introduce healthy dopamine-producing cells made from lab-grown stem cells to the brain to replace the injured ones. The development of healthy dopamine-producing cells from stem cells may potentially help researchers test novel therapeutic approaches.
Because embryonic stem cells have the capacity to differentiate into every type of cell in the body, including brain cells, researchers are especially interested in them. To guarantee that replication can be regulated and a secure remedy can be created, more study is required to comprehend how these cells function.
Even though the exact aetiology of Parkinson's disease is unknown, scientists do know which brain cells and regions are affected and have three different strategies to employ stem cells to treat the condition:
- Understanding The Disease
Researchers are using stem cells taken from PD patients to create the disease's neurons in the laboratory. The damaged neurons serve as an effective tool for understanding how Parkinson's disease operates.
- Creating new medications
Scientists can search for compounds that could be developed into novel medications to treat the disease by creating cells from people with Parkinson's disease and using these stem cells to create damaged neurons in the lab.
- Replacing injured cells
Additionally, stem cell research may give a means of replacing disease-damaged dopamine-producing neurons with new, "healthy" ones. Although new stem cell therapies for Parkinson's disease patients are still not licenced, data from earlier clinical trials using the transplantation of developing brain cells from human foetuses have showed encouraging results.
Human stem cells can now be used to create neurons that produce dopamine. After being transplanted into rats, mice, and monkeys, neurons developed from human stem cells continue to live and function. To ascertain whether such a strategy could be effective in PD patients, more research is necessary.
Looking into the future…
The genetics underlying PD are still a mystery to scientists. Only 5% of PD cases are currently genetically related. This makes it extremely challenging to comprehend the precise causes of PD. The medicines we have for PD are quite helpful, but after a while, they start to lose their potency. Potentially, stem cell therapies can produce new neurons to replace those damaged by the illness.
Human stem cell therapies for Parkinson's disease are still not authorised. Human dopamine neurons derived from human stem cells have been demonstrated in animal studies to be secure and to appear to function similarly to the neurons in the substantia nigra. Clinical trial studies are still required to demonstrate the efficacy and value of this type of treatment for PD patients. Before cell therapies are regularly available for people with Parkinson's disease, more research is necessary.
