Stem Cell Therapy and Parkinsons Disease

Retinal pigmental epithelia (RPE) are dopaminergic support cells in the neural retina. RPE cells on gelatin beads, also called Spheramine, produce levodopa (Watts et al., 2003), but there are no data yet on the consistency of dopamine production by these cells. An open label clinical trial of transplantation of Spheramine was conducted in six patients with PD (Bakay et al., 2004). Spheramine was transplanted into the striatum and show ed clinical effects over 24 months. Spheramine is now undergoing double bhnd placebo controlled trials in advanced PD. 

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