Politics
Thursday June 12, 2008
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Scientists Say Cure for Parkinson's Disease Right under Their Noses
By Peter J. Smith
SYDNEY, Australia, June 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New research on stem-cell therapy shows scientists have found that the cure for Parkinson's disease may lie right under one's nose - or rather, in it.
Researchers from Griffith University have published a study in the journal Stem Cells that has found adult stem-cells harvested from the noses of Parkinson's patients developed into dopamine-producing brain cells upon being transplanted into the brain of a lab rat.
Professor Alan Mackay-Sim said researchers simulated Parkinson's symptoms in rats by creating lesions on one side of the rat's brain to imitate the damage Parkinson's disease wreaks on the human brain. The lesions caused the rats to run in circles; however when stem-cells from the noses of Parkinson's patients were injected into the affected area of the brain, the rats re-acquired the ability to run in a straight line.
According to Mackay-Sim, the evidence showed the injected stem-cells had differentiated into "dopamine-producing neurons influenced by being in the environment of the brain."
Mackay-Sim explained that, like all stem-cells, these adult stem-cells from the olfactory nerve in the nose are "naïve," since they have not yet differentiated into any particular type of cells.
"They can still be influenced by the environment they are put into. In this case we transplanted them into the brain, where they were directed to give rise to dopamine producing brain cells," he added.
"Significantly, none of the transplants led to formation of tumours or teratomas in the host rats as has occurred after embryonic stem-cell transplantation in a similar model."
The research team made their latest discovery by building upon the groundbreaking work of Mackay-Sim, whose team in 2005 revealed they had found stem-cells from the nose have properties superior to embryonic stem-cells, and had developed them successfully into heart, nerve, liver, and brain cells.
Mackay-Sim's team had developed a technique that extracts stem-cells from the olfactory nerves of patients in a harmless 10 minutes procedure. Unlike unethical embryonic stem-cells - which have yielded no cures despite the investment of hundreds of millions of research dollars - these stem-cells from a patient's nose do not develop into tumours, are compatible with a patient's immune system and therefore do not require dangerous immuno-suppressant drugs.
Mackay-Sim's latest discovery in the little-recognized field of adult stem-cell research is the work of the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research, part of Griffith University's Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies.
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Australian Research Team Finds Stem Cell Gold in the Nose
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/mar/05032208.html
Spinal Cord Injuries Improved Years Later with Patients' Own Olfactory Cells
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06072104.html
Adult Stem Cell Research: True Potential Sacrificed for Other Possibilities Says Biotech Writer
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061311.html
Adult Stem cell patch restores vision
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07041803.html
Embryonic Stem Cell Therapies to Cure Disease is "Pure Folly", Says MIT Prof
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121209.html
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- UK Bishops’ Document on Homosexuality Praised by Prominent Anti-Catholic Homosexualist
- Interview: "The Proposed Coalition Government is Very Very Scary" Says Canadian Pro-Life Leader
- Abortionist Pleads No Contest to Felonies, Faces up to 10 Years in Jail
- Catholic Bishop: "Go Right Ahead and Arrest Me" Rather than Obey Freedom of Choice Act
- Abortion Linked to Disproportionately High Rate of Black Premature Births
- Bush Interview: "I Didn't Sell my Soul for Politics"
- Unprecedented Restrictions Placed on Religious, Political Clubs at Lakehead University
- Franklin Graham, Son of Billy Graham, at California Megachurch: "Abortion is Murder"
- Author of French "Right to Die" Law Opposes Efforts to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia
- Life Prizes Announces Winners of $600,000 Pro-Life Award
- Homosexualist Catholic University Students Join Protest against True Marriage
- Letters to the Editor for Tuesday, December 2, 2008
- Purchase of Christmas Music CD By Pro-Life Priest is Great Way to Support LifeSiteNews
Most Read this Week
- Behind the Scenes of Volition: Coincidences and Startling Circumstances
- Ad Showing Woman Seducing Santa Promotes Free Morning-After Pills and Condoms for Christmas
- Belgian Couple Sells Baby on EBay
- Leading Canadian Pro-Life MP Relates Shocking 20 Year Lack of Support From Catholic Clergy
- Naming the Anti-Life Appointments in the Obama Administration
- Cardinal on Biblical Condemnation of Homosexuality: We're Not Allowed the Cowardice of "Politically Correct" Silence
- Film Review: Volition
- A Painful, Disease-Ridden Death Isn’t So Bad if You’re Just a White, Heterosexual Male
- Just In Time for Christmas - Gift Cards for Abortions from Planned Parenthood
- Abortion Now Number One Cause of Death in Spain
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.