Abstract
Publisher Summary The motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are considered to be because of severe dopamine (DA) depletion in forebrain striatal areas. This chapter discusses and summarizes the data obtained so far on the morphological, functional, and immunological characteristics of grafted human fetal dopamine (DA) neurons. The experimental data obtained by grafting human fetal DA neurons to rats clearly suggest that these cells could provide an excellent source of donor tissue for transplantation in PD patients. Human fetal DA neurons survive intracerebral transplantation, reinnervate the DA-depleted striatum, and form synaptic contacts with host striatal neurons. The estimation of the survival and growth capacity of grafted DA neurons seem to indicate that implantation of a limited amount of human fetal mesencephalic tissue could markedly restore DA neurotransmission in a significant portion of the human striatum, sufficient to produce a therapeutically valuable improvement of motor performance in a patient with PD. However, the potential medical risks of intracerebral neural grafting need to be considered very carefully and weighed against the potential benefit of an improved motor function for the patient, when embarking upon clinical trials.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
