umbilical cord stem IN THE NEW THERAPY FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE Paolo De Lillo *
ROME, Sunday, March 13, 2011 (ZENIT.org) .- The success of the intranasal administration stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease has led to a significant strengthening of the control and motor function, an improvement of 68% in experimental animals, thanks to the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective which stem cells. They lead to a correction of the deficiency of dopamine, a characteristic of the disease.
These promising results have been reported of Rejuvenation Research, a major peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., underlining the potential of a non-invasive approach of stem cell therapy, a safer and effective alternative to transplantation surgery. The merit of the research of William H. Frey II, Ph.D., director of the Alzheimer 's Research Center, part of Health Partners Research Foundation, and Dr. Lusine Danielyan, who coordinated an international team of researchers at the University Hospital of Tübingen, the University of Göttingen Medical School and the University of Tübingen to Stuttgart (Germany), Health Partners Research Foundation, at St. Paul, MN (USA), University German of Cairo, in Egypt, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (USA), Institute of Molecular Biology NAS RA, Yerevan, Armenia, and the University Hospital of Geneva, Svizzera.1
In this study truly innovative stem cells can migrate into the brain in high percentage, preferably to the damaged areas, and survive for at least six months. The levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine are significantly higher in areas of the brain achieved by stem cells compared with untreated regions. The authors presented their findings in the article "Therapeutic Efficacy of Intranasally Delivered Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a Rat Model of Parkinson Disease, "in which explain that the use of intranasal prevent tissue damage, inflammation and swelling resulting from implant surgery. No less important is the possibility, which is realized with this new method, we can repeat the treatment several times in the stem cell tempo.2
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological disease, whose incidence increases with age, characterized by a decrease in motor skills, muscle function and language skills. Men are affected twice as often than women for unknown reasons. Clinical research has found significant evidence to suggest the 'usefulness of cord blood stem cells in facilitating treatment of this disease.
Parkinson's disease attacks the motor neurons in the central nervous system in a particular area, called the substantia nigra, a pigmented layer of gray matter in the very ventral midbrain, and their axonic endings that reach the striatum, disrupting the normal production of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that allows the muscles and movement to function properly. It was described in ancient Ayurvedic texts in India 6,500 years ago. When 80% of these cells is damaged, appear to be the physical symptoms of the disease (such as tremors, slowness of movement, stiffness, decreased activity muscle, loss of balance and coordination, difficulty in initiating a movement and then to stop it). At this time, there is no treatment to stop or slow down the progression of Parkinson's decisive, but various treatment methods, such as drugs, to help alleviate the symptoms, and sometimes surgery, when they do not work. The drugs work by replicating the action or by replacing the missing dopamine. In the United States 1.7 million patients suffer from this disease, and every year there are about 50 to 60,000 new cases.
Clinical trials have shown that transplantation of umbilical cord stem cells can help regenerate damaged neurons o distrutti, migliorando i sintomi della malattia e le normali funzioni del cervello: dal camminare al parlare, al ragionamento cognitivo.
Il metodo finora esplorato dagli scienziati , chiamato “neurotransplantation” , prevede l'utilizzo di staminali, coltivate in laboratorio, da innestare direttamente nei siti del cervello, che richiedono dopamina. Hanno inventato varie tecniche, to push stem cells to differentiate into dopamine-producing neurons. Then they are placed directly in areas, such as the substantia nigra, the striatum or putamen, where there is a lack of nerve cells that produce the neurotransmitter. Stem cells today are often introduced through the striatum, a component of the subcortical telencephalon, the most important element of the basal ganglia.
Even in this case the cord blood stem cells have several advantages over others, such as bone marrow, which are 10 times less concentrated, not to mention the ease and long shelf-life, security, the use of a non-invasive process, the high rate of acceptance by the immune system paziente.3
Embryonic stem cells, initially used, there are also proved in this case no risk: in a study at Harvard University, 20% of the test animals developed tumors transplanted embryonic cells, not to mention the modest improvement and serious side effects, such as discinesia.4
A 'no other way that may lead to promising developments is the synergistic use of cord blood stem cells in combination with GDNF, neurotrophic factor derived from glial cell line. Originally produced from embryonic stem cells, today is produced in the laboratory from other types of stem cells. In 2004 the scientific journal Current Opinion in Pharmacology doctors Clive N. YT Tai and Svendsen have argued that it has the ability to repair the motor neurons damaged by Parkinson's disease, glial cells and increase survival of transplanted dopamine neurons. Infused directly into the putamen, GDNF led to significant clinical improvement without significant side effects in a small group of patients who received this growth factor for a year. The authors suggest that treatment with stem cells with growth factors will prove a grande speranza per la terapia della malattia di Parkinson.5
Nel luglio 2010 i ricercatori del Dipartimento di Neurochirurgia dell'Ospedale Zhujiang, presso la Southern Medical University di Guangzhou (Cina), coordinati dalla dottoressa Meng Li del London Imperial College, hanno dimostrato che le cellule staminali mesenchimali del cordone ombelicale, che si trovano nella gelatina di Wharton, tessuto mucopolisaccaridico che protegge ed isola i vasi ombelicali, possono differenziarsi in neuroni dopamino-simili. Nello studio hanno indotto queste staminali cordonali a formare neurosfere, composte da elementi simili a staminali neuronali che, in seguito, si trasformano in cellule, che mostrano forti somiglianze morfologiche, with phenotypic and functional motor neurons producing dopamine. After transplantation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem these rats with an experimental model of Parkinson's disease showed partial therapeutic effects in terms of improve behavior.
E 'was found that the NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) improve the local microenvironment for the transplanted stem. Therefore, an additional experiment was conducted to test the 'combined action of cord stem graft and NGF. The results of the study demonstrated that the administration of this growth factor dramatically improved survival in delle cellule trapiantate nel cervello e aumentava il contenuto di dopamina nei tessuti interessati. Test comportamentali hanno indicato un forte progresso delle funzioni motorie rispetto a quelle dei ratti trattati con il solo innesto cellulare. Questi recenti e considerevoli risultati suggeriscono che il trapianto di staminali del cordone ombelicale, soprattutto mesenchimali, combinato con la somministrazione di NGF può rappresentare una nuova ed importante strategia terapeutica per la cura del morbo di Parkinson.6
1) Vicki Cohn - Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News - 09 Feb 2011
2) Medical News Today - HealthPartners Research Foundation - 06 Feb 2011
3) Robin Thede , eHow Contributor
4) Deyanda Flint , eHow Contributor - 12 marzo 2010
5) Tai Y-T, Svendsen CN. Stem cells as a potential treatment of neurological disorders. Current Opinion in Pharmacology - 2004; 4: 98-104.
6) Li M, ed all. - Neurochemimical Research - 2010 Oct;35(10):1522-9. Epub 2010 Jul 24.
* Paul De Lillo has a doctorate in Pharmacy. 
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