Human stem cells help monkeys recover from Parkinson's

Monkeys with severe Parkinson's disease have recovered after human stem cells were transplanted into their brains. The successful experiment raises hopes that the treatment might work as well in humans. An injection of neural stem cells in their brains "led to dramatic functional recovery in severely Parkinsonian monkeys," notes Richard Sidman, Bullard Professor of Neuropathology Emeritus at Harvard Medical School (HMS). "They could stand, walk, feed themselves, and live independently."

Sidman and colleagues from Harvard and other universities and medical schools published the first report of a promising attempt to treat Parkinson's in a humanlike animal in the July 17 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The disease robs its victims of control over their movements and disturbs mood, thinking, and sleep through loss of a brain chemical called dopamine. The most obvious signs include trembling of the hands, stiffness and weakness, slowed movements, a shuffling gait, and an unblinking, blank expression. Eating, washing, dressing, and other everyday activities gradually become very difficult to manage. Parkinson's affects some 1.5 million people in the United States alone.