Will astrocytes help Parkinsonics?
A new approach in the treatment of Parkinson's disease
Weekly Pharmacy www.apteka.ua based on the materials of the University of Rochester Medical Center:
Finding Points to Possible New Parkinson’s TherapyAccording to the results of the study, manipulations with astrocytes, brain cells, can provide a new and promising approach to the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
The data obtained in an animal experiment show that one type of therapy can simultaneously repair various types of neurological damage caused by Parkinson's disease.
Chris Proschel, associate professor of biomedical genetics at the University of Rochester Medical Center (USA), and the author of the study, as well as his colleagues isolated glial progenitor cells - a population of brain cells. By manipulating the conditions of cultivation and influencing the mechanism of cellular signal transmission, the researchers induced the differentiation of progenitor cells in order to obtain a certain class of brain cells - a specific class of astrocytes.
Micrograph of astrocytes grown by Read and colleagues from an article in EMBO Molecular Medicine – VM
The astrocytes used in the study are different from other types of astrocytes present in the mature brain. When they were implanted into the brains of animals with Parkinson's disease, the injected cells behaved like astrocytes detected in the developing brain, which are characterized by the ability to more effectively create contacts between cells of the nervous system and favorable conditions for their growth and recovery. Consequently, the implanted astrocytes behaved like "repairers", restoring the stability of the structure of brain cells and thereby resuming its normal activity.
After astrocyte transplantation, the researchers noted that in animals, the structure and function of not only dopaminergic neurons are restored, but also other cells of the nervous system called interneurons (intermediate neurons that transmit impulses from afferent to efferent neurons). Interneurons play an important role in information processing and coordination of movements, and they are affected by disorders noted in Parkinson's disease.
In addition, the new therapy restores the normal level of synaptophysin, a glycoprotein that plays a special role in the communication between cells of the nervous system. So, in animals implanted with astrocytes, motor skills were restored to a normal level, that is, the development of symptoms of the disease was suspended.
Astrocytes, as a rule, are given less attention than neurons, nevertheless, they are important for the normal functioning of the brain. In addition, astrocyte dysfunction can cause the development of some neurological disorders. The ability to isolate astrocytes and identify their properties makes it possible to use these cells in new treatment methods.
According to K. I read that one of the main problems with Parkinson's disease is damage to various types of brain cells, each of which is potentially important for its normal operation. Nevertheless, despite this circumstance, most of the modern research is focused on the restoration of only one type of cell – neurons.
Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disease. It is associated with the loss of dopaminergic neurons – cells that produce an important mediator, dopamine, and also note the disruption of other types of cells of the nervous system.
Therefore, while the preservation and restoration of the functions of dopaminergic neurons is crucial for slowing down or reversing the course of the disease, it becomes clear that rational long-term therapy should be aimed at restoring other types of cells of the nervous system.
Article by Proschel et al. Delayed transplantation of precursor cell-derived astrocytes provides multiple benefits in a rat model of Parkinsons published in the open access journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.
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