“A new treatment for Parkinson’s disease is undergoing clinical trials, building on successful preliminary studies with non-human primates at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This novel approach involves transplanting dopaminergic neuronal progenitor cells into the brain, a method refined through collaboration between researchers and Aspen Neuroscience. Initial results are promising, paving the way for potential breakthroughs in the management of Parkinson’s symptoms,” reports SciTechDaily:
Parkinson’s disease damages neurons in the brain that produce dopamine, a brain chemical that transmits signals between nerve cells. The disrupted signals make it progressively harder to coordinate even simple movements and cause rigidity, slowness, and tremors that are the disease’s hallmark symptoms. Patients are typically treated with drugs like L-DOPA to increase dopamine production. Although the drugs help many patients, they present complications and lose their effectiveness over time.
Researchers at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center successfully grafted brain cells called dopaminergic neuronal progenitor cells into the brains of cynomolgus macaque monkeys. California-based Aspen Neuroscience provided the cells, grown from multiple lines of human induced pluripotent stem cells, along with key pieces of the equipment for delivering them to specific parts of the brain.
More details at this link.
In other news, a new blood test can now detect Parkinson’s years before symptoms arise. Some researchers think that coffee grounds may hold the secret to preventing Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
A 2022 study found that nicotine helped with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Study finds nicotine safe, helps in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s,” reported the Tampa Bay Times:
Smoking … contributes to an array of health problems, but nicotine — the calming chemical that cigarettes deliver — might actually be good for the aging brain. Smokers, for example, are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease — a phenomenon that has long puzzled scientists because smoking contributes to cardiovascular disease, which strongly increases the risk of Alzheimer’s. But closer investigation revealed that smoking doesn’t confer the protection; nicotine does.
A study of Alzheimer’s patients showed that those who wore nicotine patches were better able to remember and pay attention than those who didn’t. Another study showed that nicotine boosted cognitive function in older people who didn’t have Alzheimer’s, but were showing signs of age-related mental decline.
Nicotine also seems to protect against Parkinson’s disease, in which the death of cells in a small area of the brain results in tremors, impairing movement and as well as cognitive difficulties.
So what’s going on? How does the dreaded addictive component of cigarettes produce health benefits?
For starters, nicotine by itself isn’t very addictive at all, according to Dr. Paul Newhouse, the director of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Cognitive Medicine. Nicotine seems to require assistance from other substances found in tobacco to get people hooked….What makes nicotine especially attractive as a treatment is the fact it causes virtually no side effects, according to Newhouse. “It seems very safe even in nonsmokers,” he said. “In our studies we find it actually reduces blood pressure chronically. And there were no addiction or withdrawal problems, and nobody started smoking cigarettes. The risk of addiction to nicotine alone is virtually nil.”
If this study holds up, it is an additional reason to fight restrictions on nicotine delivery devices such as e-cigarettes, which, unlike cigarettes, do not emit smoke (which causes cancer). E-cigarettes emit vapor containing nicotine, not smoke. FDA bureaucrats reduced the range of e-cigarettes available, by failing to timely approve most applications to sell them by manufacturers. Meanwhile, cigarettes, which cause cancer, are more easily sold.
