Imagine you were suffering from these symptoms: Your hands and legs, and even your head begin shaking uncontrollably; you canât keep your balance, and are in danger of falling, even when you just take a short trip; you canât speak properly; and your thoughts are getting confused, and depression is beginning to creep in. Now, imagine there was no cure for any of these symptoms and that theyâre only going to get worse. Thatâs what life can be like for people who suffer from Parkinsonâs disease or Huntingtonâs disease. Medications and lifestyle changes could slow the progression of symptoms. But, they wonât cure either disease. There is one treatment that holds the potential for a cureâstem cell therapy.
Stem cell therapy has a lot of controversy surrounding it. Stem cells are taken from live tissue. These cells are then transplanted as a way to replace specific cells damaged or destroyed by disease. It has been a highly contentious treatment, due to the fact that some stem cells have been taken from fetal brain tissue.
But now, researchers have found a way to harvest stem cells from adults. Whatâs more, these cells are capable of differentiating into different types of cells, which means they may be able to help replace lost or damaged cells in the brains of people with Parkinsonâs and Huntingtonâs. This is the forefront of new medicine, and offers much needed hope for those with these debilitating conditions.
Sources for Today’s Articles:
Help for Parkinsonâs Sufferers From This Controversial Therapy
Lescaudron, L., et al., âThe use of stem cells in regenerative medicine for Parkinsonâs and Huntingtonâs diseases,â Curr Med Chem. September 3, 2012.