Researchers from the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences have released positive findings from a recent study that used stem cells in treating Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological condition that mostly affects older people. It is occurs when the dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain are impaired. The symptoms of Parkinson’s include tremors, rigid muscles, impaired posture, problems balancing, speech changes and loss of automatic movements. There is currently no known cure for Parkinson’s disease.

Head of the Faculty of New Technologies at the university, Hassan Niknejad suggests that stem cells are more effective than pharmacology for the treatment of nervous system diseases. Dr Niknejad said: “during its early stages, Parkinson’s disease can be treated by pharmacotherapy as the drugs help stimulate cells to produce more dopamine, but once the nerve cells are reduced to half or even one-third of the cells in a healthy body, the effectiveness of drugs will drop considerably.”

Scientists hope to use stem cells in treating Parkinson’s disease by regenerating nerve cells in the brain. Some researchers in other countries have had success by transplanting the nerve cells of unborn babies into patents with Parkinson’s. The Iranian doctors could not use stem cells source from embryos because abortion is illegal in Iran and there are moral implications associated with using embryonic stem cells.

Stem cells from a variety of other sources can also be used to create nerve cells, including umbilical cord blood, peripheral blood and bone marrow. These types of stem cells usually have to be altered in a laboratory before being transplanted.

The process that the Iranian scientists used takes 28-days to turn a stem cell into a dopamine-producing nerve cell. The researchers have seen positive results from animal tests, with a rat and a monkey showing complete recovery from Parkinson’s disease after receiving a stem cell transplant.

Source: Iranian researchers use stem cells in treating Parkinson’s disease

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