Parkinson's disease mice and human umbilical cord blood.

In 1995, it was suggested that immature stem cells (Berashis Cells) existing in human cord blood might have an ameliorating effect on such neurological diseases as Alzheimer's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. Since these predictions, we have been able to successfully extend the length of life of mice with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [B6SJL-TgN(SOD1-G93A)IGUR], Huntington's Disease (B6CBA-TgN(H.Dexon1)62Gpb and Alzheimer's mice [Tg(HuAPP695.SWE)2576]. Recently we expanded the studies to include mice with Parkinson's Disease. 32 mice, 6-12 weeks old B6CBACa-AW-J/A-Kcnj6 were obtained from Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine. The mice were divided into 3 groups: (A) 10 untreated control mice, (B) 10 mice treated with 5.6 x 10(6) congenic bone marrow mononuclear cells and (C) 12 mice receiving 100-110 x 10(6) HUCB mononuclear cells intravenously. No immunosuppression was used. When 50% of the controls were dead only 1 of the 10 mice receiving congenic marrow and 2 out of 12 mice that received cord blood mononuclear cells were dead. This preliminary study was terminated when the animal's were 200 days old, at that time one out of 10 controls was alive. Out of 10 mice that received congenic bone marrow, 2 were alive. Out of 12 mice that received megadoses of cord blood mononuclear cells 4 were alive. Survival curve of mice that had congenic marrow had a p value of <.05; the survival curve of mice receiving cord blood mononuclear cells had a p value <.001 (Fig 1) compared to controls. Human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells significantly delayed the onset of symptoms and death of Parkinson's disease mice. This effect was greater than that produced by congenic bone marrow cells.