By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News<\/p>\n
Scientists in the US have successfully made human brain cells in the lab that are an exact replica of genetically caused Parkinson’s disease.<\/p>\n
The breakthrough means they can now see exactly how mutations in the parkin gene cause the disease in an estimated one in 10 patients with Parkinson’s.<\/p>\n
And it offers a realistic model to test new treatments on – a hurdle that has blighted research efforts until now.<\/p>\n
The team told Nature Communications their work was a “game-changer”.<\/p>\n
Lab-grown<\/p>\n
“This is the first time that human dopamine neurons have ever been generated from Parkinson’s disease patients with parkin mutations,” said Dr Jian Feng who led the investigations.<\/p>\n
“Before this, we didn’t even think about being able to study the disease in human neurons.<\/p>\n
“The brain is so fully integrated. It’s impossible to obtain live human neurons to study.”<\/p>\n
Studying human neurons is critical in Parkinson’s disease since animal models that lack the parkin gene do not develop the condition, rendering them useless for this research purpose.<\/p>\n
To make the human neurons the scientists used a technique already successfully tested by others which can turn donated skin cells into brain tissue.<\/p>\n
They used skin samples from four volunteers – two healthy people and two with Parkinson’s disease caused by a parkin gene mutation.<\/p>\n
This allowed them to observe the parkin gene at work.<\/p>\n
Normally, parkin controls the production of an enzyme called MAO (monamine oxidase) which, in turn, keeps a check on the brain-signalling chemical dopamine.<\/p>\n
When parkin is mutated, that regulation is lost and levels of MAO increase, which can be toxic to dopamine-producing brain cells.<\/p>\n
The scientists now want to test new treatments that might prevent this damage occurring and stop this form of Parkinson’s.<\/p>\n
They have already shown that they can reverse the defect by putting a normal parkin gene into diseased neurons.<\/p>\n
Dr Michelle Gardner, research development manager at Parkinson’s UK, said the study was particularly exciting because it provided a new way to investigate this genetic form of Parkinson’s.<\/p>\n
“Parkinson’s UK funded research has already shown that parkin plays a key role in how Parkinson’s develops in the brain nerve cells that die.”<\/p>\n
Parkinson’s Disease Treatment: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis & More<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n