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Dopamine Drug Leads to New Neurons and Recovery
of Function in Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease
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Brief Description:
Preliminary results of a study conducted by scientists at the Mayo Clinic
College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida indicate that a drug that
mimics the effect of dopamine may also cause stem cells that already
exist in the adult brain to turn into dopamine-producing neurons. .
Transcript:
Schmalfeldt:If you or someone you know suffers from
Parkinson's Disease, you probably recognize the typical symptoms — a
shuffling gait, slowness of movement, stiffness, unsteadiness, and tremor.
You may not know that the symptoms are caused by the loss of specialized
neurons in the brain that produce a nerve-signaling chemical called "dopamine".
There has been much excitement — and controversy — surrounding the use
of stem cells to replace these lost dopamine-producing neurons. Now,
research funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke at the National Institutes of Health gives hope that one day scientists
may be able to capitalize on the promise of stem cells and their ability
to transform into other specialized types of cells, without the controversy
that comes from outside sources of these cells. Preliminary results of
a study conducted by scientists at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
in Jacksonville, Florida indicate that a drug that mimics the effect
of dopamine may also cause stem cells that already exist in the adult
brain to turn into dopamine-producing neurons. The drug also led to long-lasting
recovery of function in rats suffering from an animal form of Parkinson's
Disease. Dr. Diane Murphy, the NINDS program director for the grant that
funded the research, said these findings are exciting for several reasons.
Murphy: The traditional treatment is just to replace the
dopamine. Of course, with the advent of stem cells in research people have
the idea that they could replace those cells by implanting stem cells that
had been engineered to turn into dopamine neurons. I think the interesting
thing about this study is that they're showing a way to get stem cells
that are already in the brain to differentiate and try to become dopaminergic
cells. So, the idea there would be that you don't need to have an external
source. If these drugs could stimulate those internal neurons to grow and
turn into dopamine neurons, that's actually a very exciting idea for therapy.
Schmalfeldt: Researchers are now looking at how different
doses of these drugs might affect the growth of new dopamine-producing
neurons. Once they identify the most effective dose in animals, researchers
may then be able to test comparable doses in humans. They are also carrying
out experiments to learn if using drugs that act on other kinds of receptors
might stimulate this sort of new neuron growth in patients with Alzheimer's
Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. The study appeared in the
July 5th edition of The Journal of Neuroscience. From the National Institutes
of Health, I'm Bill Schmalfeldt in Bethesda, Maryland.
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| Date: 07/14/2006 |
Reporter:
Bill Schmalfeldt |
Sound
Bite:
Dr. Diane Murphy |
Topic:
Parkinson's Disease |
| Institute(s): NINDS |
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