Study of Parkinson's shows the disease may be checked by implanting eye cells in the brain

• A University of Alabama preliminary study suggests implants of cells from the human retina improved motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease.
• Parkinson disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, with most patients requiring the medication levodopa to control symptoms.
• But disease progression and long-term oral treatment with levodopa may lead to the development of motor fluctuations and dyskinesias.
• Human retinal pigment epithelial cells produce levodopa and can be isolated from post mortem human eye tissue, grown in culture, and then implanted into a brain attached to microcarriers.
• Researchers say such implants ameliorated the motor deficits in animal models of Parkinson disease.
• Dr. Natividad Stover of the University of Alabama-Birmingham and colleagues conducted an open-label pilot study to evaluate the effect of such implants.
• Six patients with advanced Parkinson disease received cell implants.
• The researchers performed efficacy evaluations at one and three months after surgery, and then at six, nine, 12, 15, 18 and 24 months.
• 'We observed an average improvement of 48 percent at 12 months after implantation...,' the authors wrote.
• Improvement was also observed in activities of daily living, quality of life, and motor fluctuations.
• The study appears in the December issue of Archives of Neurology.