Intransnasal Stem Cell Therapy

Summary

A new medical procedure called intranasal stem cell therapy is being developed for replacement of dead neuron cells in brains affected with degenerative neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Alzheimer's disease, as well as for treating strokes and brain tumors. The procedure is to have patients inhale stem cells through the nose and is being developed as an alternative to surgical implantation of stem cells which can cause neural inflammation, may quickly kill the implanted cells, and can be be expensive as well. Research on this procedure suggests that the inhaled stem cells do not spread through the brain indiscriminately, but target damaged cells. Studies with this procedure in animals have been showing promising results: in a rat with Parkinson's disease, motor function and slow neurological degeneration seems to improve with intranasal stem cell therapy.

                

Relevance

This article is related to the cell unit in our curriculum. In the unit, we learned about how eukaryotic cells regenerate parts of organs through mitosis (asexual reproduction) because old cells have died or have been 'rubbed off' especially in the skin. This article talks about how in this case, stem cells can replace dying or dead neurons (cells that transmit bio-electrical signals in the nervous system with ions) in the brain that has been affected with a neurological disorder that causes it to lose neurons. Cancer was also a topic in the cell unit. In the topic cancerous tumors being dangerous to the body as they can spread and cause abnormal growths, and possible treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy (both with their side effects) were all discussed. This treatment relates by being developed to replace cancerous tumors in the brain that may spread, as well as being an alternative to treatments with side effects.

Link
URL of article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=inhaled-stem-cells-might-replace-lost-neurons
Author: Caitlin Shure
Published: October 19, 2013