PAMPLONA, Spain, May 17 (UPI) -- Spanish scientists report success in treating Parkinson's disease symptoms in monkeys by implanting dopamine generators into the animals' brain cells.
Researchers at the Navarra University Hospital in Pamplona, Spain, led by Dr María Rosario Luquin Piudo, used a procedure that involved implanting cell fragments extracted from the carotid body in the striate area of the brain.
After the implantation of the cellular aggregates of the carotid body into the striate area of the brain, improvement in movement in monkeys with Parkinson's was demonstrated to last for at least a year.
The research team concludes the mechanism by which the implants manage to ameliorate Parkinson's symptoms appears to be related to the capacity of the cells to release substances that induce an increase of the dopaminergic cells that usually exist in the normal brain, but in lower quantities.
The research is detailed in the British journal Brain.
