A long and winding road: Differentiating human embryonic stem cells into dopaminergic neurons
Popular Abstract in English Parkinson’s disease is the second common neurological disease whose major clinical symptom is progressive impairment in the ability to control the body movements. The symptoms are mainly caused by the gradual loss of dopamine producing neurons in a very specific part of the brain, termed substantia nigra. Although there exist some drug and surgical therapies, those mosParkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Since the motor manifestations of the disease is associated with the loss of dopaminergic (DAergic) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, cell replacement therapy is a promising approach for treatment. Although several different cell types have been used in clinical trials, with the recent findings of somatic cell nuclear tr