have a look.

1. Stem cells &
Neurodegenerative diseases
Ashwin Prem

2. Parkinson’s Disease
•Progressive loss of DA neurons in the substantia nigra.
•L dopa and dopamine agonists, which are the available
treatments, targets the symptoms rather than the cause.
•Initial cellular therapies for PD utilised foetal ventral mid brain
tissue as a source of DA neurons.
•The ability to produce patient specific neurons has recently
been demonstrated using iPS cells.
•Transplantations of growth factor producing MSCs & NPCs
protects DA neurons and promotes functional recovery in
rodent models.

3. Lou Gehrig Dr Stephen Hawking
ALS - Lou Gehrig’s Disease

4. ALS - Lou Gehrig’s Disease
•Involves degeneration and loss of motor neurons (MNs).
•The treatment targets regeneration and environmental enrichment of motor
neurons by cellular therapy.
•Intraspinal injections of MSCs & NPCs in ALS rodent models ameliorates
disease progression, suggesting intervention prior to irreversible loss of MNs.
•The foundation for the first Phase I trial for ALS uses fetal spinal cord-derived
NPCs.
•The cells utilized in the trial integrate safely into the spinal cord, synapse and
interact with host MNs, and also provide a source of growth factors upon direct
spinal cord injection in rodents.
•NPCs are being delivered to non-ambulatory, and ultimately ambulatory, ALS
patients through direct lumbar and cervical intraspinal injections.

5. By- Shubhanshu Singh(AIIMS
BHOPAL)

6. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a
devastating neuromuscular condition that progressively destroys ventral horn
motor neurons and fibers of the pyramidal tracts. As the disease progresses, the
sufferer loses the ability to speak, swallow, and breathe. Death typically occurs
within five years.
Environmental and genetic factors interact to cause ALS. In 10% of cases
mutations are inherited; spontaneous mutations are probably involved in the rest.
Recently, the mutations have been localized to genes that are involved in RNA
processing.
While the exact mechanism is not clear, the presence of excess extracellular
glutamate suggests that excitotoxic cell death is involved.
Riluzole, a drug that interferes with glutamate signaling, is the only available life-
prolonging treatment.

7. PoliomyelitisResults from the poliovirus, which typically enters the body in feces-
contaminated water and destroys ventral horn motor neurons. Early
symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain and weakness, and loss
of certain somatic reflexes. Later, paralysis develops and the muscles
served atrophy. The victim may die from paralyzed respiratory muscles
or from cardiac arrest. Fortunately, vaccines have nearly eliminated this
disease and a global effort is ongoing to eradicate it completely.
However, many survivors of the great polio epidemic of the
late 1940s and 1950s have begun to experience extreme lethargy,
sharp burning pains in their muscles, and progressive muscle weakness and
atrophy. These disturbing symptoms are referred to as postpolio
syndrome. The cause of postpolio syndrome is not known, but a
likely explanation is that its victims, like the rest of us, continue to lose
neurons throughout life. While a healthy nervous system can recruit
nearby neurons to compensate, polio survivors have already drawn on
that “pool” and have few neurons left to take over. Ironically, those who
worked hardest to overcome their disease are its newest victims.

8. Tabes Dorsalis
A slowly progressive condition
caused by deteriorating dorsal tracts (gracilis and
cuneatus) and associated dorsal roots. A late sign
of the neurological damage caused by the syphilis
bacterium. Because joint proprioceptor tracts are
destroyed, affected individuals have poor muscle
coordination and an unstable gait. Bacterial
invasion of the sensory (dorsal) roots results in
pain, which ends when dorsal roots have been
completely destroyed.