FETAL TRANSPLANTS

THE DEMISE OF FETAL TRANSPLANTS

SOURCES: SCIENCE 4.11.2008 & NATURAL MEDICINE 4.2008

In the 1990s, doctors took dopamine producing neurons from aborted fetuses and injected them into the brains of Parkinsonism patients to replace neurons destroyed by the disease.

Two later trials showed that the surgery had no benefit and even caused involuntary movements in some patients.

Three studies were done recently on 6 brains from patients who had these transplants and found that many transplanted cells identified by their pigmentation and staining for an enzyme found in dopamine production that showed Parkinsonism pathology.

This suggests that the disease can spread from the host brain to much younger neurons with different genetics. The pathogenic mechanism is unknown. Immune reactions to the transplanted fetal cells may be a factor.

Today fetal transplant surgery is rarely done. This puts a question on whether stem cell transplants would work.

Time will tell.

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