Long-Term Health of Dopaminergic Neuron Transplants
Introduction
Research: Introduce your research area’s goals and how your research paper wants to build on the research area.
Researcher Team: Penelope J. Hallett, Oliver Cooper, Damaso Sadi, Harold Robertson, Ivar Mendez, Ole Isacson
Research Paper: “Long-Term Health of Dopaminergic Neuron Transplants in Parkinson's Disease Patients,” by Cell.com
The goal of neurobiology is to study upon the nervous system and to analyze physiology and cell biology as pertaining to the nervous system in order to find any possible treatments to certain diseases that afflict the nervous system, as well as how certain procedures and medications take their toll on and have an effect on the nervous system and its intertwinement with the rest of the human body. In 2014, a group of researchers from the Harvard University Stem cell institute, Canadian Institute of Health and other schools, concluded and published a study that would help build on this field of neurobiology, specifically pertaining to future treatments for Parkinson’s disease and the effects of treatments that are intended to help combat it.
Context
For further context, Parkinson’s Disease is a motor disease that affects the way that individuals afflicted by it move, and causes tremors and stiffness, as well as motor difficulties. One of the main causes of Parkinson’s disease is a deficiency in dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, or a molecular signal in the human body that is secreted by neurons (Another example of a neurotransmitter is acetylcholine, which steadies heart rate and controls the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that allows the human body to recuperate and recover). Dopamine transmits signals to the cerebellum, the location in the brain that is responsible for coordination and movement. As a result, when there is a deficiency in dopamine, as caused by Parkinson’s, the coordination of a Parkinson’s patient becomes more clumsy.
Concepts and Methods
In this study, the researchers investigated whether a treatment of dopamine neuron transplant is a plausible and effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Dopamine neurons, per name, are neurons that contain dopamine, and as a result, a viable theory could be that, if transplanted into the nervous system of a Parkinson’s patient, these dopamine neurons can increase a Parkinson’s patient’s dopamine levels, and thus could possibly be able to treat Parkinson’s disease. These researchers investigated and conducted extensive research to see what merit dopamine neuron transplant carries. To see whether the function of dopamine neuron transplants reduced over time, the researchers examined how dopamine transporters (DAT’s), a plasma protein that is located on dopamine nerve terminals, was expressed and how it lasted, as well as mitochondrial shapes in the dopamine neuron transplants, and how that contributes to how dopamine neuron transplants last. Essentially, by examining two proteins on the outer membrane of the mitochondria, or the “powerhouse” of the cell which makes energy for the human body, the researchers found that dopamine neuron transplants last effectively for almost two decades after the original transplant. For this particular experiment, the researchers tried to understand any repercussions that may happen as time progressed with these transplants. To see what levels of dopamine transporters expression, or what level of effect it still had, researchers juxtaposed a dopamine neuron transplanted in a Parkinson’s patient 9 years before to one transplanted 14 years before, and they found that the dopamine neurons’ fibers were more defined in the 9-year-post-transplant, with DAT’s appearing more intense, when stained. However, what was baffling to the researchers was that the DAT’s expression was preserved for the most part in the putamen even after a substantial period of time, over a decade later post-transplantation, and was similar between the two time periods. For context, the putamen is a message intake center for the basal ganglia (an area that helps with movement and coordination for the brain). This wholly contradicts and disproves prior studies that portrayed dopaminergic neuron transplants as time-sensitive, and degrading rapidly. This research wholly elucidates that dopaminergic neuron transplants are not time-sensitive and can remain effective in Parkinson’s patients for a prolonged period of time.
APA Citation:
“Basal Ganglia (Section 3, Chapter 4) Neuroscience Online: An Electronic Textbook for the Neurosciences: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy - the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.” Basal Ganglia (Section 3, Chapter 4) Neuroscience Online: An Electronic Textbook for the Neurosciences | Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy - The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, UT Houston Medical School, https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s3/chapter04.html.
“Dopamine and Parkinson's Disease: What to Know.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/dopamine-parkinsons.
Hallett, Penelope J, et al. “Long-Term Health of Dopaminergic Neuron Transplants in Parkinson's Disease Patients.” Define_me, https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(14)00419-7.
Lanciego, José L, et al. “Functional Neuroanatomy of the Basal Ganglia.” Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1 Dec. 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3543080/.