American scientists led by Jian Feng from the State University of New York at Buffalo have transformed skin cells of patients who are suffering from Parkinson´s into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) an than into nerve cells.


Patients suffering from Parkinson´s disease carry a gene mutation which controls parkin, an enzyme in the cells. The induced nerve cells deriving from the patients´ tissue also show the genetic defect. With the cell culture, scientists can examine the way in which genetic defects prevent the normal function of dopamine in the cells. To provide a comparison, nerve cell cultures from healthy humans are also produced. With the cell cultures the researchers can study the function of the parkin gene in healthy neurons and the effects of the defecting gene in the Parkinson's patients.

The production of co-called dopaminergic nerve cells from skin cells via the iPS technique is an accepted method for the Parkinson´s research. In summer 2011 researchers from the University of Edinburgh using this technique gained insights into the alpha synuclein, a small soluble protein which regulates the dopamine release in the brain. (InvitroJobs reported on this at the time).

In their experiments they found out that the patients´ cells produce larger amounts of monoaminoxidase compared to normal cells. They found that his enzyme damaged the important hormone dopamine which is responsible for the function of brain cells and disturbed the intake and release of that hormone. When the scientists inserted a healthy parkin gene into diseased cells the cells functioned normally. They concluded that parkin protects the dopamine neurons against oxidative stress caused by an overproduction of monoaminoxidase.

The development of this cell culture may help to find new drugs for the treatment of patients who suffer from the Parkinson´s gene mutation. The researchers have published their findings in the journal "Nature Communications".

Source: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jianfeng/

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