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Parkinson’s Traits Reversed In Rat Brain Cells

newscientist.com — Brain cells that are usually destroyed in Parkinson’s disease have been rescued in a rat model of the disease. Easing the movement of proteins within key neurons reversed the effects of Parkinson’s on the cells. The approach might one day work in humans as a way of treating the debilitating neurological disorder.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 24, 2006

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  • montiff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6When are we gonna start seeing some reversals in HUMAN brian cells.

    Comon people support Stem Cell research...
  • Toon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Need I remind you that Michael J. Fox provided the voice for Stuart Little?
  • UsernameTaken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"The approach might one day work in humans as a way of treating the debilitating neurological disorder"

    Indeed, wake me up when that happens. It seems that we are getting better and better at treating rats and mice, but when we try to apply these "cures" to humans more often than not they fail miserably. How many times do we have to hear: "promising treatment for cancer found... in mice" before we look at these studies with more cynicism. I'm a scientist, and I know from the inside how my colleagues hype this kind of stuff as a mean to get funding. Just don't hold your breath for a Parkinson cure any time soon.
  • BenvolioZF, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yes, people support stem cell research, but the congress doesn't.
  • micha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3good, support stem cell research
  • sogracefully, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2in humans, a lot of times, parkinson's drugs will create schizophrenia-like symptoms (mostly hallucinatory ones) because both are linked to processing/production of dopamine in opposite ways. so, this is actually kinda pointless because we have no way of seeing whether the rats are experiencing psychotic delusions that could, in a human, put a person in real danger of him-/herself and make a poor consolation prize now that they don't have so many parkinson's symptoms.
  • RandomSkratch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2webslave1 does have a point though.

    It seems like rat's are the most curable creatures on the face of the planet. I realize that they are a viable testing source and we can't go out testing this stuff directly on humans but what about animals that are more closely related? Or if this is not possible, why not try finding a way to easily transfer these treatments to humans?

    I know absolutely nothing about the field of medicine so I am typing this blind.
  • Ogopogo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Like the article says "Better treatments could be possible if we knew what makes dopamine-producing cells die in the first place."
    For another view on how to deal with Parkinson's, check out: http://www.parkinsons-success.com . Yes, it's only anecdotal evidence, but it's inexpensive, no harmful side-effects, and it does work for some people.
  • satori3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Does anyone else wonder why we're trying to breed these uber rats?
  • dubbin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And it's still a load of misleading and dangerous crap. Just like it was when you spammed about it 2 days ago.
  • mancat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1And I bet PETA still has a problem with this kind of testing.
  • webslave1, on 10/12/2007, -14/+2Oh thats great as long as you're a rat!!

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