New therapeutic approaches to Parkinson's disease including neural transplants

Authors

W-L Kuan
R A. Barker, Edith Cowan University

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Sage Publications Ltd

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

School

School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Science

RAS ID

10063

Comments

Kuan, W. L., & Barker, R. A. (2005). New therapeutic approaches to Parkinson’s disease including neural transplants. Neurorehabilitation and neural repair, 19(3), 155-181. Available here

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder of the brain and typically presents with a disorder of movement. The core pathological event underlying the condition is the loss of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway with the formation of alpha-synuclein positive Lewy bodies. As a result, drugs that target the degenerating dopaminergic network within the brain work well at least in the early stages of the disease. Unfortunately, with time these therapies fail and produce their own unique side-effect profile, and this, coupled with the more diffuse pathological and clinical findings in advancing disease, has led to a search for more effective therapies. In this review, the authors will briefly discuss the emerging new drug therapies in PD before concentrating on a more detailed discussion on the state of cell therapies to cure PD.

DOI

10.1177/1545968305277219