Research carried out by team at Galway Neuroscience Centre and CÚRAM
Neuroscientists
at NUI Galway have
claimed to have made a breakthrough in regenerative medicine approaches to
Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s
is a condition that primarily affects a person’s ability to control movement
leading to a progressive deterioration in ability. The symptoms of the
condition are caused by the degeneration and death of brain cells that regulate
movement. Brain repair for Parkinson’s involves replacing the dead cells by
transplanting healthy brain cells back into the brain, but the widespread
roll-out of this therapy has been hindered by the poor survival of the
implanted cells.
The
research, carried out by a team at the Galway Neuroscience Centre and CÚRAM –
the Science
Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices –
based at NUI Galway has shown that the survival of the transplanted cells is
dramatically improved if they are implanted within a supportive matrix made
from the natural material collagen.
Picture depicts brain repair in Parkinson’s: transplanted brain cells survive better when implanted in collagen. Photo: NUI Galway
US
civil rights activist Rev Jesse
Jackson announced last week that
he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“The
collagen provides the cells with a nurturing, supportive environment in the
brain and helps them to survive the aversive transplant process,” said lead
author of the research paper, Dr Eilis Dowd.
The
research was published on Wednesday in the Nature journal, Scientific
Reports.
The work
will be presented at the upcoming Network for European CNS Transplantation and
Restoration (NECTAR) conference which is being hosted by Dr Dowd in Dublin from
the December 6th-8th, 2017. The event will feature leading scientists from the
US, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, who will present their
latest research on brain repair for Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/breakthrough-in-brain-repair-for-parkinson-s-disease-1.3301518
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