The goal of this paper is to compare the utility of adult, embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to treat Parkinson’s disease. As such several things will be assessed, dosage of stemcells, improvement in motor function, in combination with the presence of α-synuclein proteins and cell survival. To give a short overview of the steps that will be taken to complete the study. Obtaining stem cells, whether adult, embryonic or induced, shall be done using healthy mouse models and after ethical approval has been gained. The process to derive them will be detailed below, however they are also purchasable commercially with the benefit of being well studied and accompanied by a detailed analysis of properties, however with a higher purchasing costs. All steps should be done using sterile techniques to avoid contamination, both to object and self. All (disposable) materials should be sterilized and (where possible) only for 1 time use, due to the sensitivity stem cells have to detergents. After verifying they are bonafide stem cells the next phase should be ready to commence. Rats will be used as a disease model. All will be healthy, adult and a baseline PET scan and performance on a rotarod will be done. All but 1 set will then be subjected to a neurotoxin to mimic the diseased Parkinson state. Another PET scan and rotarod test will be done on all groups. The groups affected by the neurotoxin will then be subdivided into those receiving the different types of stem cells, one subgroup will receive no treatment and one group will receive medium (no cells). Next to this 2 different dosages will occur. Another PET scan and rotarod will be done to determine if any improvement occurs. Rats will then be sacrificed to determi... ... middle of paper ... ...ter a 6-OHDA lesion of the substantia nigra in a single hemisphere and if the injected cells would become infected by α-synuclein proteins. References: Bjorklund LM, Sánchez-Pernaute R, Chung S, Andersson T, Chen IY, McNaught KS, Brownell AL, Jenkins BG, Wahlestedt C, Kim KS, et al. Embryonic stem cells develop into functional dopaminergic neurons after transplantation in a Parkinson rat model. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2002;99:2344–2349. Lerou, P.H. et al. Derivation and maintenance of human embryonic stem cells from poor-quality in vitro fertilization embryos. Nat. Protoc. 3, 923– 933 (2008). Mead R. 1988. The design of experiments. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. 620 p. Takahashi, K., Okita, K., Nakagawa, M. & Yamanaka, S. Induction of pluripotent stem cells from fibroblast cultures. Nat. Protoc. 2, 3081–3089 (2007).
Travis, John. "Pig cells used for Parkinson's disease." Science News. 7 Oct. 1995: 230. Academic OneFile. Web. 26 Feb. 2014
Varanese, S., Birnbaum, Z., Rossi, R., & Di Rocco, A. (2010). Treatment of Advanced Parkinson's Disease. Parkinson's Disease.
Have you or anyone in your family experienced unusual tremors in your head or any part
Stem cells are pluripotent cells of the body which are “undifferentiated.” This means that stem cells can ultimately give rise to any type of body tissue. Thus stem cells have the potential to cure a vast number of diseases and physical ailments including Parkinson’s, diabetes, spinal cord injury, and heart disease. Consequently, stem cell research and the development of associated medical applications are of great interest to the scientific and medical community. The area of stem cell research involving human embryonic stem cells is of particular interest in that embryonic stem cells are derived from week-old blastocysts developed from in vitro fertilized eggs. As opposed to adult stem cells, which must undergo a complicated process of de-differen...
There are three main types of stem cell research which are currently being studied today. These types include umbilical-cord stem cells, adult stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. Due to their capability to develop into basically any kind of cell, stem cells exhibit a great promise in scientific experimentation. Scientists are pushing these forms of research due to the promise of finding cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, spinal cord injuries, and other conditions and diseases. (Smith and Kaczor 48). The...
Stem cell research began in 1956 when Dr. E Donnall Thomas performed the first bone marrow transplant (“Adult stem cells are not more promising,” 2007). Since that time, research has evolved into obtaining cells from a variety of tissues. According to stem cell research professors, Ariff Bongso and Eng Hin Lee (2005), “Stem cells are unspecialized cells in the human body that are capable of becoming cells, each with new specialized functions” (p. 2). Stem cells are in various adult tissues, such as bone marrow, the liver, the epidermis layer of skin, the central nervous system, and eyes. They are also in other sources, such as fetuses, umbilical cords, placentas, embryos, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are cells from adult tissues that have been reprogrammed to pluripotency. Most stem cells offer multipotent cells, which are sparse...
Every year countless people are diagnosed with cell based diseases, 7.6 million a year alone receive the petrifying news that they have cancer. But what if we could eliminate the idea that a cancerous diagnosis is the equivalent of a death sentence? The use of embryonic stem cells could, for the first time, make diseases like cancer or parkinson a non-issue. This is why the use of embryonic stem cells should not be viewed as unethical but rather a huge step towards unthinkable medical breakthroughs and the eradication of life threatening diseases.
Firstly, therapeutic cloning has numerous advantages in curing serious diseases by transplanting healthy cells derived from patient’s own bodies to replace the diseased tissue or organ, as well as medical research. One of the benefits is that it can treat a number of diseases, i.e. cancer, heart disease, burns and Parkinson’s disease. Lindvall (et al., 2011) reports that in 2008, scientists at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have successfully treated mice which had a condition like Parkinson’s disease, with cloned embryonic stem cells injecting to mice’s brains. In addition, this technology can avoid rejection reaction. Camporesi and Bortolotti (2009) explain that if transplanted cells are derived from the patient, as opposed to a donor, the cells will not be attacked by the patient’s immune system as foreign material so that patient will not suffer adverse effects brought by immune-suppr...
There are many different types of stem cells that are being looked at for research. These include embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, and induced pluripotent cells. Embryonic stem cells are cells that have the potential to produce many different cells in the body. They are cells that are tak...
Parkinson’s affects about one million people within the United States and about five million people worldwide. Most individuals who develop Parkinson 's disease are 60 years of age or older. Parkinson 's disease occurs in approximately 1% of individuals aged 60 years and in about 4% of those aged 80 years (Heyn and Stoppler, 2013). Since overall life expectancy is rising, the number of individuals with Parkinson 's disease will increase in the future. According to Sweeny (2013) Parkinson’s affects approximately 1.5% to 2.0% of people aged 60 years and older. Though it is rare, young adults may also be diagnosed with PD. Before the age of age if 21, the diagnosis is deemed juvenile onset. Between the ages of 21 to 40 it is called early onset. A significantly higher incidence rate of Parkinson’s disease was found among men with the relative risk being 1.5 times greater in men than women. (Wooten, Currie, Bovbjerg, Lee, and & Patrie,
However, they do not bring to light when given fetal brain cells, some sufferers of Parkinson’s disease experience side effects like “head jerking, writhing, constant chewing, twisting, and arm-flailing” (OccupyTheory 5). This occurs because the patient’s body does not accept the foreign tissue of the embryos as their own. Even if the use of embryonic stem cells in Parkinson’s helps with the problems caused by the disease, it cannot cure it. When used to treat sclerosis or cancer, the cells injected into the human will require the use of drugs to prevent rejection from the tissue. Injecting embryonic cells can also cause rapid growth of unwanted tissue, or tumors. In addition to the threat of tumors, the long term side effects of stem cell therapy are still
Lindvall L, Z. Kokaia, and A. Martinez. 2004: Stem cell therapy for human neurodegenerative disorders–how to make it work. Nature Medicine. 10. P. 42-50
Zhu. Z and Huangfu, D. 2013. Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: an emerging model in developmental biology. Development. 140:705-717.
Most signs and symptoms of Parkinson disease correspond to one of three motor deficiencies: bradykinesia, akinesia, tremor, and rigidity. The first two qualities are usually present before tremor, but often attributed to aging by the patient and even the physician, and thus the disease is rarely diagnosed until tremor becomes evident much later. An average of 80% of the nigrostriatal neurons may have already degenerated by the time Parkinsonism is diagnosed, which complicates treatment (Fitzgerald, 130). Bra...
Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common nervous system disorders. This disease is part of a group of conditions that are referred to as motor system disorders. Motor system disorders are the result of the loss of dopamine producing brain cells. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. It acts as the chemical messenger in the transmission of signals in the brain and other vial areas. Dopamine is found in humans as well as animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. Further information on dopamine can be found by visiting http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Dopamine.aspx. There are four primary symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, which include (1) tremors or trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw and face, (2) rigidity or stiffness of the limns and trunk, (3) bradykinesia or slowness of movement, and (4) postural instability or impaired balance and coordination..