Researchers identify best time for stem cell collection for Parkinson's therapy
Published: Thursday, 20-Nov-2008
http://www.news-medical.net/print_article.asp?id=43210
Excerpts:
Researchers have identified a stage during dopamine neuron differentiation that may be an ideal time to collect human embryonic stem cells for transplantation to treat Parkinson's disease, according to data presented at Neuroscience 2008, the 38th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
"Identifying the subset of developing dopamine neurons and selecting those cells at the stage appropriate for their transplantation has been challenging," said Dr. Iacovitti. "Our research demonstrates that we are now able to grow neurons and select the ones that may work as a therapy, without the use of synthetic genes. This advance represents an important leap forward in the quest to devise a viable cell replacement therapy for Parkinson's disease."