Brain-Transplanted Fetal Cells For Parkinson's Treatment May Not Function

Neurons grafted into the brain of a patient with Parkinson's disease fourteen years ago have developed Lewy body pathology, the defining pathology for the disease, according to research by Jeffrey H. Kordower, PhD, and associates and published in the April 6 issue of Nature Medicine.

The finding suggest that Parkinson's disease is an ongoing process that can affect cells grafted into the brain in the same way the disease affects host dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain, according to Kordower, who is the lead author of the study and a neuroscientist at Rush University Medical Center.

"These findings give us a bit of pause for the value of cell replacement strategy for Parkinson's disease," said Kordower.