Credit: CC0 Public domain
The future treatment of Parkinson’s disease has undergone considerable development in recent years. Today, a research breakthrough has emerged, providing the most robust results in both side-effect-free and long-term therapeutic effects.
The results are published in Natural communications under the title “Enhanced production of mesencephalic dopamine neurons from lineage-restricted human undifferentiated stem cells.” »
In the new research results, DANDRITE group leader and Associate Professor Mark Denham developed a method that ensures a much higher purity of so-called dopaminergic cells, which are crucial in Parkinson’s disease.
“Stem cells offer promising potential to treat Parkinson’s disease by transforming into specific nerve cells. However, the precision of this transformation poses a significant challenge with current methods, resulting in low purity,” explains Mark.
Achieving high purity is essential to effectively restoring patient movement.
At Denham Lab, stem cells have been genetically modified to prevent them from generating the wrong types of nerve cells. The newly engineered stem cells have an increased ability to produce the specific nerve cells needed to treat Parkinson’s disease, known as dopamine cells.
In addition, researchers show that genetically modified stem cells were able to restore movement in animal models. This advance represents a potential new therapeutic approach for the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Experiments on rats have shown that the quantity and purity of cultured stem cells are essential to the number and duration of treatments.
“By using our genetically modified cells, we generate a higher purity of dopaminergic cells; for patients, this will reduce recovery time and decrease the risk of relapse and medication use. My goal is to help patients avoid not take medications, which requires high purity. “So my next step is to transfer my method to clinical trials,” says Marks.
More information:
Mark Denham et al, Enhanced production of mesencephalic dopamine neurons from lineage-restricted human undifferentiated stem cells, Natural communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43471-0
Provided by Aarhus University
Quote: Use of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons for the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease (December 5, 2023) retrieved on December 5, 2023 from
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from fair use for private study or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for information only.
