What if this more generalized stimulus could catalyze/engage the autonomic nerve system to repair what is needed?

What if this more gereneralized stimulus could catalyze/engage the autonomic nerve system to do the needed (specific)repair?

This review of MSCs may be of interest Human mesenchymal stem cells - current trends and future prospective.

Most of the work has come from animal models so may or may not be relevant to people.

There are some ongoing clinical trials but no results seem to be available yet.

Here is my two cents worth on (umbilical cord) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs).

There is a theory that chronic neuroinflammation in PD is a result of chronic inflammation in the gut. Assuming that this is correct, it is conceivable that MSCs (perhaps given intravenously) might be able to halt the inflammation in the gut, thereby possibly bringing to a halt the inflammation in the brain. This would be a form of neuroprotection, possibly halting/slowing the progression of the disease.

For those PwPs in more advanced stages of the disease, neuroprotection is not sufficient. What is required is neuroregeneration, possibly via new dopamine neurons made from IPSCs.

NB: I haven't read any of the papers on MSCs yet, so my view is likely to change!

The gut inflammation:PD link sounds plausible to me. Here is a discussion of it https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5445611/.

I reckon that MSCs and IPSCs are well worth thinking about in this context

I found something interesting. There is actually a clinical trial underway in Texas that is focused on the use of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (delivered intravenously) for the treatment of PD. It is currently recruiting PwPs.

Allogeneic Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

NB: This trial is using bone-marrow-derived MSCs (i.e. not umbilical cord MSCs).

Hopefully it won't be too long before we see an MSCs-for-PD clinical trial that uses umbilical cord MSCs.

jeffreyn wrote: "Hopefully it won't be too long before we see an MSCs-for-PD clinical trial that uses umbilical cord MSCs".

Not too long at all it seems! There are now TWO such trials.

The first one is in Jordan:
Use of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Parkinson Disease (PD) - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

The second one is in China:
Umbilical Cord Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Therapy in Parkinson's Disease - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

Aside:
I was thinking about "plasma fractions" (such as GRF6021 from Grifols/Alkahest), and it reminded me of this thread from last year about (umbilical-cord-derived) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

As I wrote earlier in the thread: "My understanding of MSCs is that they are found throughout the body, they modulate the immune system, decrease inflammation, and stimulate regeneration. They do not [necessarily] transform into other types of cell. Their influence [potentially] occurs via the production of cytokines and growth factors."

Simplistically, it seems to me that with plasma fractions you assemble a collection of molecules (proteins) and then inject them, whereas with MSCs it's the MSCs that create the molecules (after they themselves have been injected)!

For anyone who may be interested, here is (some of?) the preclinical research underpinning the Texas MSCs-for-PD clinical trial.

(PDF) A Meta-Analysis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Animal Models of Parkinson’s Disease

From the recent AANAM 2019 conference (via PNT):

#AANAM 219 - Stem Cell Therapy for Parkinson's Safe, Improves Motor Function in Early Study

Thanks to RooJr for posting this link, in the following thread:

Stem Cell Therapy Seen as Safe, May Improve Motor Function, Early Findings Suggest