Researchers say Parkinson's cure may lie in the nose

LOUIVILLE University of Louisville researchers hoping to find a cure for Parkinsons disease have discovered an unlikely potential treatment -- stem cells from the human nose.

Videos from a laboratory at Louisville reveal the promise: One shows a rat with a brain damaged to mimic Parkinsons continually circling the bottom of a bowl in one direction, unable to do anything else. Another shows a similar rat injected with nasal stem cells moving normally and trying to climb out.

The research -- which uses an adult patients own cells -- is outlined in this months issue of the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

I think it would be wonderful to have thought of something that could help people. Thats what Im in this for, said Louisville neuroscientist Fred Roisen, chief science officer and co-founder of a company based on the technology called RhinoCyte.

Parkinsons -- which afflicts about a million Americans, including Louisville-born boxing legend Muhammad Ali -- is a progressive neurological disorder that mostly strikes people over 50, causing tremors, slow movement and other problems.

It occurs when nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine, a chemical that helps control muscle movement, are slowly destroyed.

It is a terrible disease, Roisen said. And as our population ages, there are gonna be more and more people with Parkinsons.

John Baumann, a 51-year-old Shelby County man diagnosed with it a decade ago, said he finds the research interesting and coincidental because his sense of smell was the first thing to go when he began developing Parkinsons. Loss of smell is considered an early warning sign.

Anything that could lead to a cure is wonderful news, said the lawyer, author and inspirational speaker. Stem cells have always scared me, since theres so much opportunity for something to go wrong. But when its done in a moralistic and disease-related way, Im all for it.

Roisen said nasal stem cells are not a cure for Parkinsons but do seem to spur improvement in some research animals. The study says about 35 percent of rats getting the cells experienced improved behavioral recovery.

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Researchers say Parkinson's cure may lie in the nose