Assessing fetal nerve cell grafts in Parkinson's disease

摘要

One of the pathological features of Parkinson's disease is a loss of dopaminergic nerve cells in the substantia nigra, a nucleus of the midbrain. Cells in this region project to the striatum, a subcortical brain region that works closely together with the cerebral cortex. In Parkinson's disease, the dopamine deficit in the striatum results in some of the disorder's most debilitating symptoms, such as bradykinesia (slowed initiation and execution of movements) and cogwheel rigidity (intermittent increased resistance to passive movement). The dopamine precursor ievodopa and other antiparkinsonian medications partially alleviate the striatal dopamine deficiency, but after more than five years of treatment, most patients become refractory to Ievodopa and experience dys-kinesias (undesirable motor fluctuations and involuntary movements).