Fetal dopaminergic transplantation trials and the future of neural grafting in Parkinson's disease

Nanotechnology platforms in Parkinson’s Disease

“…The transplantation of fetal tissue in the form of human fetal ventral mesencephalon was one of the most promising treatments in the 1980s and stimulated a number of clinical trials with varied protocols and endpoints [127,128]. There were reports of clinical improvement and two decades later, after sufficient evidence of safety and efficacy of these treatments, the National Institutes of Health, USA started two clinical trials in the early 2000s [127].…”

“…The trials found the therapy to be of little benefit to patients and caused some of the patients to become worse with symptoms like graftinduced dyskinesias (GID) [127,129]. However, a decade later, the debate is still on regarding the efficiency of stem-cell grafting [128,129]. Besides the concerns in the clinical-trial design and ethical issues, the technology needed to be safe [127,128].…”

“…However, a decade later, the debate is still on regarding the efficiency of stem-cell grafting [128,129]. Besides the concerns in the clinical-trial design and ethical issues, the technology needed to be safe [127,128]. These concerns are more pronounced with embryonic stem cells (ESCs) because of their ability to differentiate into a number of cell types [127].…”

Vers une régénération induite du système nerveux

“…Si cette stratégie s'est avérée bénéfique dans un modèle murin de maladie de Parkinson [21,22], l'approche chirurgicale apparaît plus délicate à mettre en oeuvre chez l'homme. Dans le cas de la maladie de Parkinson, la transplantation de tissu mésencéphalique ventral (enrichi en progéniteurs dopaminergiques), provenant de foetus humains, a produit des résultats mitigés mais néanmoins prometteurs [23]. L'un des enjeux majeurs d'une telle approche réside donc, dans un premier temps, dans la survie de cellules pleinement différenciées puis transplantées (par exemple des neurones dopaminergiques obtenus in vitro), là où des progé-niteurs neuronaux (par exemple des progéniteurs dopaminergiques foetaux) peinent à survivre à long terme, en dépit des traitements immunosuppresseurs utilisés pour prévenir les rejets d'allogreffes.…”

Stem Cells for Neuro-regeneration: State of the Art

“…For example, after dorsal root injury, embryonic day 14 or 15 rat spinal cord transplants were grafted into the dorsolateral quadrant of adult rat spinal cord (13). …”