We are careful when we point out other experiments that contain encouraging results, because the ideas often fall apart as the are tried on humans. Nevertheless, we want to pass on one treatment on the horizon.
Implanting dopamine generators (dopaminergics) in brain cells has produced improvement in the symptoms of Parkinson's, according to the results of tests carried out with monkeys by the Navarra University Hospital, led by Dr. Maria Rosario Luquin Piudo.
The results have been published in the latest issue of the British scientific journal Brain, and have corroborated the conclusions of a previous study, published in 1999 by the same research team. On this occasion the research was extended to a greater number of primates, and for a longer period of time. The procedure involved implanting cell fragments extracted from a brain structure called the carotid body. Its function is to control the rhythm of respiration and the cardiac frequency by releasing dopamine in situations of low oxygen in the blood. After the implantation of the cellular aggregates of the carotid body into the striate area of the brain, the improvement in movement in monkeys with Parkinson's and which had received transplants was demonstrated to last for at least a year.
The research team concluded that the implants may release substances (trophic factors) that increase the number of the dopaminergic cells (that usually exist in the normal brain but in lower quantities). Amongst these trophic factors is the GDNF (Glial Cell-derived Neurotrophic Factor).
Cells extracted from the carotid body have been used as a source for dopaminergic cells in the treatment of Parkinson's disease in animal experiments and in humans. The advantage of this cell type is a person could use his or her own implant cells, and avoid the risk of rejection.
