Price explains potential therapy for Parkinson’s

July 24, 2017   Rachel Adkins | The Daily Independent

Dr. Elmer Price, a professor of biological sciences at Marshall University, speaks at the Ashland Rotary Club on Monday. Rachel Adkins | The Daily Independent

ASHLAND Dr. Elmer Price of Marshall University shared with Ashland Rotarians on Monday a potential new therapy for Parkinson’s disease that he has developed.

Price, a professor of biological sciences, explained at the club’s meeting how the therapy works with the use of adult stem cells. He and his students have seen success with their research so far, with the use of lab rats who are given Parkinson’s disease.

Price’s method does not involve a stem cell transplant from another party, but instead uses someone’s own stem cells to help with Parkinson’s disease. This is done by redirecting stem cells from the patient’s olfactory bulb, a brain structure responsible for sense of smell, toward the other area of their brain that is damaged by the disease.

“A rats’ olfactory bulb gets replenished with about 10,000 neurons everyday. In humans it’s more like 1,000,” he said.

The cells are redirected through an implant in the shape of a cylinder that is 6 millimeters long with a diameter measuring 0.7 millimeters. The cylinder is made of a gel-like material that has components that are already commonly used by neurosurgeons.

The cylinder’s job is to create a new migratory path in the brain for the cells so they can travel to the damaged area. The implant is biodegradable and is gone after about eight weeks.

Price noted that out of the 70-80 animals that have received an implant, none have died from the surgery. He also added that the next day after receiving their implant, the rats go back to their normal lives.

He showed Rotarians a diagram of a rat’s brain eight weeks after the implant that revealed neurons following a new pathway to the designated area.

“Their Parkinson’s behavior is being basically reversed by this implant,” he explained.

In 2015 Price was awarded a three-year, $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for his research. In addition to Parkinson’s disease, his potential therapy could also be used for traumatic brain injuries.

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