Drucker-Colín R, Verdugo-Díaz L, Morgado-Valle C, Solís-Maldonado G, Ondarza R, Boll C, Miranda G, Wang GJ, Volkow N. Transplant of cultured neuron-like differentiated chromaffin cells in a Parkinson's disease patient. A preliminary report.
Arch Med Res 1999;
30:33-9. [PMID:
10071423 DOI:
10.1016/s0188-0128(98)00007-4]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Treatment of Parkinson's Disease (PD) has been attempted by others by transplanting either the patient's own adrenal medullary tissue or fetal substantia nigra into caudate or putamen areas. However, the difficulties inherent in using the patient's own adrenal gland, or the difficulty in obtaining human fetal tissue, has generated the need to find alternative methods.
METHODS
We report here of an alternative to both procedures by using as transplant material cultured human adrenal chromaffin cells differentiated into neuron-like cells by extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF MF).
RESULTS
The results of this study show that human differentiated chromaffin cells can be grafted into the caudate nucleus of a PD patient, generating substantial clinical improvement, as measured by the Unified Rating Scale for PD, which correlated with glucose metabolism and D2 DA receptor increases as seen in a PET scan, while allowing a 70% decrease in L-Dopa medication.
DISCUSSION
This is the first preliminary report showing that transplants of cultured differentiated neuron-like cells can be successfully used to treat a PD patient.
Collapse