Application of Embryonic Stem Cells on Parkinson's Disease Therapy

Abstract

Embryonic stem (ES) cells have the ability to reproduce themselves for a long period and differentiate into specific morphological and functional cells. The ES cells are an important material in developmental biology, genomics, and transgenic methods, as well as in potential clinical applications, gene therapy and tissue engineering. The pluripotent ES cells will be a valuable source in the treatment of numerous functional degenerative pathologies including Parkinson's disease (PD), which is characterized by progressive and selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain substantia nigra. Thus, the most important for using ES cells in PD therapy is to direct their differentiation into dopaminergic phenotype to replace the degenerated cells. In this review, we summarize the neural differentiation directing protocol, transplantation results, and behavioral recovery of ES cells derived dopaminergic neurons in the therapeutic studies in PD animal models.