[stevem53]

Hi Everyone..Welcome new community members, and lurkers!

The nights have been getting very cool lately..The past few nights its been in the 30's..Im trying not to burn anymore oil that I have to..the stuff is expensive these days

Yesterday I was invited to a support group here because Congressman Jim Langevin was the speaker and he talked about developing stem cell research in Rhode Island..He gave a good talk on the subject and answered questions when he was done..There was only about 15 people in attendance..I checked out the R.I. APDA Chapter website yesterrday and the amount of support groups in R.I. since my dx 2 yrs ago is about cut in half, and I know its not for lack of people with pd

I did not feel good almost all week..All I did mostly was lay down and watch the tube..There were a few days where I literally couldnt get out of my own way..I must have had a touch of a bug or something because I felt good enough today to go out in my boat and haul my traps..I really wasnt up to going to that support group meeting yesterday, and it was out on the other side of the state..But I felt that I should be there if I could possibly make it there

So thats my week..How is everyone doing this week?

Steve

[Thelma]

Steve
Whether Parkinsons or Als comes first it is the beginning for both. Hope you feel better soon like today.


Public release date: 15-Oct-2006
[ Print Article | E-mail Article | Close Window ]

Contact: Audrey Huang
audrey@jhmi.edu
410-614-5105
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

Human stem cells delay start of Lou Gehrig's disease in rats
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that transplanting human stem cells into spinal cords of rats bred to duplicate Lou Gehrig's disease delays the start of nerve cell damage typical of the disease and slightly prolongs life. The grafted stem cells develop into nerve cells that make substantial connections with existing nerves and do not themselves succumb to Lou Gehrig's, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study is published in this week's issue of Transplantation.

"We were extremely surprised to see that the grafted stem cells were not negatively affected by the degenerating cells around them, as many feared introducing healthy cells into a diseased environment would only kill them," says Vassilis Koliatsos, M.D., an associate professor of pathology and neuroscience at Hopkins.

Although all the rats eventually died of ALS, Koliatsos believes his experiments offer "proof of principle" for stem cell grafts and that a more complete transplant of cells - already being planned -- along the full length of the spine to affect upper body nerves and muscles as well might lead to longer survival in the same rats.

"We only injected cells in the lower spine, affecting only the nerves and muscles below the waist," he noted. "The nerves and muscles above the waist, especially those in the chest responsible for breathing, were not helped by these transplanted stem cells."

The research team used so-called SOD-1 rats, animals engineered to carry a mutated human gene for an inherited form of ALS. As in human ALS, the rats experience slow nerve cell death where all the muscles in the body eventually become paralyzed. The particular SOD-1 rats in the study developed an "especially aggressive" form of the disease.

Adult rats not yet showing symptoms were injected in the lower spine with human neural stem cells - cells that can in theory become any type found in the nervous system. As a comparison, the researchers injected rats with dead human stem cells, which would not affect disease progression. Both groups of rats were treated with drugs to prevent transplant rejection.

The rats were weighed and tested for strength twice a week for 15 weeks. Weight loss, according to Koliatsos, indicates disease onset. On average, rats injected with live stem cells started losing weight at 59 days and lived for 86 days after injection, whereas control rats injected with dead stem cells started losing weight at 52 days and lived for 75 days after injection.

The rats were coaxed to crawl uphill on an angled plank, and their overall strength was calculated by considering the highest angle they could cling to for five seconds without sliding backwards. While all the rats grew progressively weaker, those injected with live cells did so much more slowly than those injected with dead cells.

Close examination of the transplanted cells also revealed that more than 70 percent of them developed into nerve cells, and many of those grew new endings connecting to other cells in the rat's spinal cord.

"These stem cells differentiate massively into neurons," says Koliatsos, "a pleasant surprise given that the spinal cord has long been considered an environment unfavorable to this type of transformation."

Another important feature of the transplanted cells is their ability to make nerve-cell-specific proteins and growth factors. The researchers measured five-times more of one particular factor, known as GNDF (short for glial cell derived neurotrophic factor) in spinal cord fluid. The transformation of the transplanted cells also may allow them to deliver these growth factors to other cells in the spinal cord through physical connections.

Cautioning that clinical applications are still far from possible, Koliatsos hopes to take further advantage of his rodents with ALS to learn as much as possible about how human stem cells behave when transplanted.

###
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL SUNDAY, OCT. 15 AT 12:01 A.M. E.D.T.

The researchers were funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins.

Authors on this paper are Leyan Xu, Jun Yan, David Chen, Annie Welsh, Karl Johe, Glen Hatfield and Koliatsos of Hopkins, and Thomas Hazel of Neuralstem Inc., of Rockville, Md.

On the Web:
http://neuroscience.jhu.edu/VassilisKoliatsos.php
http://www.alscenter.org/

[stevem53]

Thelma..Everytime I think of ALS I think of "Tuesdays with Morrie"..What a great movie!

[pegleg]

(That is a weird word - "forumicans" - that's what it would be, I guess).

Anyway - another week is starting. Man, where did summer go??? My calendar looks pretty cluttered this week - conferencne calls (2), two support group meetings, Bible study (which I am teaching), and Sunday School (which I am also teaching). I haven't quite mastered the word "NO!" lol But seriously, I only commit to short-term stuff because of PD.

Speaking of "short-term," do any of you have problems with short-term memory? It bothers me the most. I can recall the color of somebody's socks 20 years ago, but sometimes can't remember my own kids' names. Someone told me that Ambien worked on your short-term memory, and I use it for sleep. Has anyone else heard that?

OK - gotta get back to work - today was the infamous "lunch at mother's" after church. I am bushed (let me changed that to "very tired." lol

Peggy

[gaykir]

We check in to the Presby Hospital hotel tomorrow and Kevin begins testing for DBS on Tuesday. Many of you may wonder why we are shecking into the hopital hotel. We have very extreme "off and on"cycles which many of you do not experience - count your lucky stars for that!!

Hopefully we will complete the DBS surgery before year end. It required changing hospital systens etc to get what we believe is the best neurosurgeon for us.,. keep your fingers crossed for us!

Gayle & Kevin

[wendy s]

Good luck, Gayle and Kevin. Hope everything goes really well.
Steve, sure hope you're feeling better by now. And Peggy, that short term memory loss is the pits. What annoys me the most is if I go into a take-out place for my husband and myself, and by the time I get to the counter, I can't remember what he wanted. So he gets a BLT instead of ham and swiss. Sigh.

[paula_w]

Hi to all,

i seem to have a little motivation going again finally. i have much GRC updating to do and want you to see Shane Smith's conversation who, with two others , , , wrote for lack of better word, the expose of the Adult Stem Cell Treatment LIst ,that is inaccurate, full of exaggeration and downright errors.


EVen so, I can only wonder how much of the pro-hype ESCR information has been exaggerated and wnder how much industry even knows the population it is treating.

Gene therapy is the new hot competition.I hope they are successful with it but it seems so risky. That 's because it is - all neuroregenerative treatments are, as well as DBS.

They are comparing neurturin to gdnf as well as delivery systems.

At the same time, DBS is continuously increasing and being reccommended at younger ages.

Comfortably at last, we have a very compatible group here working on alternative treatments and causes. It feels like we are finally working together and seeing the whole picture Thank you and you know who you are.

Gaykir, please come on in to the current DBS thread. You are leadig a parallel life to Mike TTF. The ultimate treatment of denial, the bottom of the slippery slope not knowing if there are safety nets. My touch of drama because it is quite a step into the inknown.

Paula

Steve you have been quiet - hope you are doing ok.

[stevem53]

Kevin and Gayle..My thoughts and prayers go out to you both..Best of luck and progress!

Paula..Ive been kinda fatigued lately because of trying to work, and probably had a touch of the bug thats going around last week..so Ive been too out of it to respond much lately..I have realized that I have to up my Sinamet and I dont want to do it..I took a pill and a half this morning instead of a pill before I went out on the boat, and it helped alot..it took longer to get fatigued..Seems like I never stop having to come to terms with this disease..Fatigue and lack of motivation have been eating away at me lately..Its time for me to snap out of it