Fetal Brain Tissue Transplantation in Parkinsons Disease Patients Essa

Fetal Brain Tissue Transplantation in Parkinson's Disease Patients Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder characterized initially by muscular rigidity and slowing of voluntary movements (1). Ultimately, the characteristics are tremor, mask-like faces, decreased spontaneous blinking, flexion posture and sometimes cognitive impairment. The neuropathology of Parkinson's disease generally involves loss of cell bodies in all melanin-containing brain regions and invariably a loss of substantia nigra dopamine-containing neurons (DA). The principal target for dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra is the striatum and the loss of dopaminergic tone in the striatum is thought to produce most of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Since Parkinson's disease is a dopamine deficiency, treatment with L-Dopa, the precursor of dopamine, was successful in treating Parkinson's patients (1). However, these patients taking L-Dopa often develop side effects and in about 50% of the patients, the drug effectiveness is lost. As an alternative to drug therapy, the possibility of grafting dopamine-containing tissue into the brains was proposed. From the proposal, there have been a vast amount of experiments to test transplantation effectiveness. Work in amphibians and fish were the first to demonstrate the possibilities for neuronal replacement after damage in the central nervous system (2). In these species, especially in the visual system, grafted neurons were substituted both structurally and functionally for damaged axonal connections, and afferent and efferent connections were established with a high degree of specificity between the grafted neurons and the host. Evidence in adult sub-mammalian vertebrates has shown c... ...a, S., Brundin, P. and Gustavii, B., 1989, Human fetal dopamine neurons grafted into the striatum in two patients with severe Parkinson's disease. A detailed account of methodology and a 6-month follow-up. Archives of Neurology 46: 615-631. 6. Freed, C.R., Breeze, R.E., Rosenberg, N.L. and Schneck, S.A., 1990, Transplantation of human fetal dopamine cells for Parkinson's disease. Results at 1 year. 47: 505-512. 7. Jankovic, J., Grossman, R., Goodman, C. and Pirozzolo, F., 1989, Clinical, biochemical and neuropathologic findings following transplantation of adrenal medulla to the caudate nucleus for treatment of Parkinson's disease. Neurology 39: 1227-1234. 8. Allen G.S., Burns, R.S., Tulipan, N.B. and Parker, R.A., 1989, Adrenal medullary transplantation to the caudate nucleus in Parkinson's disease. Initial clinical results in 18 patients. 46: 487-491.