According to the Australian Associated Press, medical scientists will attempt to inject brain cells from a New Zealand pig into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients in September this year in an effort to treat the disease in humans.
Medical scientists will extract brain cells from a species of pig found on Auckland Island, New Zealand, and inject them directly into damaged areas of the brains of four New Zealanders suffering from Parkinson's disease. The trial on the first patient is scheduled for September, followed by trials on three other patients. This type of medical experiment is the first of its kind in the world.
If this research finding can be realized, it will undoubtedly be good news for Parkinson's syndrome patients. However, many people may not know much about Parkinson's syndrome. Next, we'll introduce some relevant information about Parkinson's syndrome.
What is Parkinson's syndrome?
Parkinson's syndrome is a degenerative disease affecting the substantia nigra and nigrostriatal pathway in middle-aged and older adults. The American Parkinson's Disease Association (APDA) defines those who develop the disease before the age of 40 as young Parkinson's patients. The etiology of primary Parkinson's disease is still unclear; approximately 10% of patients have a family history. Some patients may develop Parkinson's-like symptoms due to encephalitis, cerebral arteriosclerosis, brain trauma, hypoparathyroidism, carbon monoxide, manganese, mercury, cyanide, reserpine, phenothiazines, or the effects of antidepressants (such as methylamine oxidase inhibitors).
Causes of Parkinson's Syndrome
It is generally believed that Parkinson's disease is not caused by a single factor, but by multiple factors. Genetic factors can increase susceptibility to the disease. Only through the interaction of environmental factors and aging, and through mechanisms such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, calcium overload, excitatory amino acid toxicity, apoptosis, and immune abnormalities, can a large number of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra be degenerated and lost, leading to the disease.
1. Poisoning: Such as carbon monoxide poisoning, while gas poisoning is more common in northern regions. Patients often have an acute history of poisoning, followed by the gradual appearance of signs of diffuse brain damage, including generalized rigidity and mild tremors.
2. Infection: This syndrome can occur after encephalitis, such as in type A encephalitis, which often has an incubation period of several years after recovery, gradually developing into severe and persistent PD syndrome. Other types of encephalitis generally occur in the acute phase, but most symptoms are milder and shorter-lived.
3. Medications: Taking antipsychotic drugs such as phenothiazines and butyryl drugs can produce symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, which can completely disappear after stopping the medication.
4. Cerebral arteriosclerosis: This syndrome can occur when multiple lacunar infarcts in the brainstem and basal ganglia are caused by cerebral arteriosclerosis, affecting the dopamine-striatal pathway in the substantia nigra. However, these patients often have pseudobulbar palsy, hyperreflexia, positive pathological signs, and are frequently accompanied by significant dementia.
Diagnostic criteria for Parkinson's disease
(1) Clinical manifestations: Most Parkinson's disease patients develop the disease after the age of 60, with occasional cases in their 20s. The onset is often insidious, with a slow progression and gradual worsening. The main manifestations are: tremor (often the first symptom), rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural gait changes.
Parkinson's syndrome is characterized by abnormalities in the movement of the oral, pharyngeal, and palate muscles.
(2) Auxiliary examinations: High performance liquid chromatography can detect a decrease in the content of (homovanil) in cerebrospinal fluid and urine. Cranial CT may show widening of cerebral sulci and enlargement of ventricles.
(3) Exclude Parkinson's syndrome caused by encephalitis, cerebrovascular disease, poisoning, trauma, etc., and differentiate it from hysterical, catatonic, and senile tremors.
Diagnosis is mainly based on typical symptoms, but sometimes it is difficult to differentiate and requires the help of auxiliary examinations.
