Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease is a nervous system disorder that affects how the patient moves, including their writing and speech. It is a progressive disorder which may start off with ever-so-slight tremors in one hand. Patients also experience stiffness and find they are unable to carry out movements as rapidly as before (bradykinesia). Muscles become weaker and the individual often assumes an unusual posture. Parkinson's disease symptoms are caused by a loss of dopaminergic cells (types of nerve cells) in the substantia nigra part of the brain. These cells are responsible for producing the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine helps transmit body control and coordination movement messages from the substantia nigra to another area of the brain, the corpus striatum - when these two parts of the brain communicate properly, there is good muscle movement and coordination (Smith 2007).

A new stem cell study has raised hopes for therapy in Parkinson's disease. Researchers said they have, for the first time, generated stem cells from one of the most rapidly-progressing forms of the disease. They said the development will boost research into the condition because it will allow scientists to model the disease in laboratories and help them shed light on why certain nerve cells die. The research was led by the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with University College London (UCL).

Parkinson's is a neurological condition that comes about when certain brain cells die and the brain fails to produce enough of the chemical dopamine, which affects movement.

Stem cells hold great promise for the treatment of many diseases and traumatic medical conditions, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal chord injuries. Their use is also controversial, because they are generally derived from human embryos, which brings up moral implications in stem cell research (Levens 2008).

Potentially, stem cells could be programmed to become tissue or organs to replace damaged ...