While there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, an upcoming experiment offers hope to the more than 10 million people living with the disorder that a breakthrough may be on the horizon.
A team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of Cambridge, are planning to develop a new kind of brain implant from small clusters of brain cells to treat Parkinson’s disease. This approach, as detailed in a university statement from January 23, aims to repair neural pathways damaged by the aggressive disease and will first be tested on animals.
“Our ultimate goal is to create precise brain therapies that can restore normal brain function in people with Parkinson’s,” George Malliaras from the University of Cambridge, who will co-lead the project along with fellow Cambridge researcher Roger Barker, said in the statement.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by the breakdown and death of neurons in the brain, particularly those that produce dopamine. Reduced dopamine levels disrupt normal brain activity, affecting motor control and causing movement problems. Scientists don’t know what triggers the disease, and there is currently no cure. While dopamine-based medications are effective early in treatment, they often lead to significant and unpleasant side effects over time.
Scientists have been searching for a cure for Parkinson’s disease for well over a century. Researchers are exploring cell-replacement therapy as a potential treatment, which replaces the dead dopamine cells with new ones. These current approaches, however, have failed to fully integrate transplanted cells with the brain’s nervous system.
Malliaras and Barker’s team hopes to address this problem by developing transplants made from midbrain organoids—small clusters of brain cells. Similar to cell-replacement therapy, researchers plan to transplant these midbrain organoids into the brain. Then, they’ll use “advanced materials and electrical stimulation” to support the transplanted cells’ connection to the nervous system and the restoration of lost neural pathways.
“To date, there’s been little serious investment into methodologies that interface precisely with the human brain, beyond ‘brute force’ approaches or highly invasive implants,” said Jacques Carolan, program director of the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA). ARIA is the British research and development agency funding the Parkinson’s implant project. “We’re showing that it’s possible to develop elegant means of understanding, identifying, and treating many of the most complex and devastating brain disorders. Ultimately, this could deliver transformative impact for people with lived experiences of brain disorders.”
It remains to be seen how the team will develop the implant once the project has officially started. Hopefully, within a few years—or maybe even months—we’ll be reporting on the success of the first animal trials.