Lewy body–like pathology in long-term embryonic nigral transplants in Parkinson's disease

JH Kordower, Y Chu, RA Hauser, TB Freeman… - Nature medicine, 2008 - nature.com
Nature medicine, 2008nature.com
Fourteen years after transplantation into the striatum of an individual with Parkinson's
disease, grafted nigral neurons were found to have Lewy body–like inclusions that stained
positively for α-synuclein and ubiquitin and to have reduced immunostaining for dopamine
transporter. These pathological changes suggest that Parkinson's disease is an ongoing
process that can affect grafted cells in the striatum in a manner similar to host dopamine
neurons in the substantia nigra. These findings have implications for cell-based therapies …
Abstract
Fourteen years after transplantation into the striatum of an individual with Parkinson's disease, grafted nigral neurons were found to have Lewy body–like inclusions that stained positively for α-synuclein and ubiquitin and to have reduced immunostaining for dopamine transporter. These pathological changes suggest that Parkinson's disease is an ongoing process that can affect grafted cells in the striatum in a manner similar to host dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra. These findings have implications for cell-based therapies and for understanding the cause of Parkinson's disease.
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