## Transplant success

> New Scientist vol 136 issue 1850
> - 05 December 92, page 10

> Astonishing improvements in patients given implants of fetal brain tissue to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease have prompted renewed calls for the US to lift its ban on federal funding of research with fetal tissue.

> The results of three long-term studies of Parkinson's sufferers published in the New England Journal of Medicine were accompanied by an outspoken editorial urging US president-elect Bill Clinton to lift the ban. 'It appears that there are indeed important benefits to be gained by continuing this work,' he says.

> Parkinson's disease is caused by failure to produce enough of the neuro-transmitter dopamine, and since 1987, researchers have transplanted cells from aborted fetuses into the brains of sufferers, in the hope that these would make up the shortfall.

> The three groups, one in Sweden led by Olle Lindvall, a pioneer of the technique, and two from the US, report improvements in 12 out of 13 patients for periods of up to four years. The patients showed improvements in movement and speech. One even regained his driving licence.

> 'The use of human fetal tissue is the best alternative today,' says Lindvall, of the University Hospital, Lund. But he warned that it is still too early to foresee the long-term prospects of the technique. He also warned that if cell transplantation becomes widespread, new sources of tissue will have to be found. One solution is tissue genetically engineered to produce dopamine. 'But we're not there yet,' says Lindvall.

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