Stem Cells For Parkinson's

By Amy Price PhD

Can Parkinson's patients benefit for stem cell therapy? The answer is likely that in the future this will be possible. Right now stem cells for orthopedic applications are a working reality and cardiac
applications are showing great success.

It was interesting to see a company with customer testimonials claiming success for Parkinson's . What happens is they are injecting stem cells intravenously and claiming these cell are migrating to the brain to "fix" Parkinson's. There are big problems with this...some cells migrate but the number of cells that would actually make it to the brain are fewer than finding a friend in a 50,000 seat foot ball stadium, the rest of the cells go the the lungs and then are reabsorbed by the body and filtered out through the liver and excreted by body wastes. Patients are paying thousands of dollars and travel expenses for cells they will end up flushing.

Think about it this way. If cultured cells could just fix things intravenously why would leukemia
patients even need bone marrow transplants? With Parkinson's the underlying cell structure in the brain has been compromised and unless that is restructured new cells will be taken over like ants on a chocolate cake. For stem cells to work treatment needs to be targeted and care needs to be given as to how to best treat the underlying problem.

So why are some Parkinson's "patients" saying it could be working for them?
First of all Parkinson's is a dopamine deficiency issue. Anytime we do something
that brings pleasure or excitement, dopamine is circulated. For a short period of time patient's actually feel better. This principle is biological not psychosomatic. Plus the cells have some anti inflammatory properties so this benefit is felt as a temporary relief from pain.

Just after Thanksgiving a family member ran over our cat in full view of three small children. Having done some veterinary work and some first aid I could see the cat was not long for this world. She was bleeding from her mouth and her lungs were filling with blood and yet I held her in my arms and my son and I drove to the vet in hopes that someone bigger and smarter could do something...they couldn't. I guess I would do the same for a person I cared about and so would a lot of people. This makes us vulnerable in spite of knowledge so even when a celebrity claims to be healed it may not be the whole story. About the Parkinson's stem cells.... no fMRI or electrical studies of before and after treatments are shown and a search on PubMed turned up nothing.

This is in stark contrast to stemcell company scientists who publish research results and actual case studies to show where and how treatment is progressing. One question to ask when you are considering a new medical treatment is do the people I am dealing with offer any other options in case of candidates that are not suitable for the procedure?

What can you do right now until stem cells catch up with the ability to treat
brain disorders? There are meds, deep brain stimulation and brain training
options that can all help. The love and care we surround people with also makes
maximum use of the dopamine available and can enhance the quality of life for a
loved one with Parkinson's.....keep posted as soon as we see safe viable
treatment it will be posted here!