Background: The possibility that human embryonic stem cells might improve the clinical status of patients with Parkinson's disease has received considerable attention. In 1995, it was suggested that immature cells (Berashis Cells) existing in human

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Effect Of Human Umbilical Cord Blood (HUCB)
On Parkinsons Disease Mice
Norman Ende, MD and Ruifeng Chen, MD New
Jersey Medical School, Newark, N.J. 07103
Background The possibility that human embryonic
stem cells might improve the clinical status of
patients with Parkinson's disease has received
considerable attention. In 1995, it was
suggested that immature 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, Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease.
Recently we expanded the studies to include mice
with Parkinson's disease. Design 32 mice, 6-12
weeks old B6CBACa-AW-J/A-K cnj6ltwvgt were received
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 106 congenic bone marrow mononuclear cells
intravenously and (C) 12 mice receiving 100-110 x
106 HUCB mononuclear cells intravenously. By 12
weeks these mice develop tremor and become unable
to feed themselves or drink. Result At 78 days
6 out of 10 controls were dead, only 3 to 10 of
the bone marrow treated mice were dead, while
only 2 of 12 mice treated with HUCB were dead.
At 180 days 8 of the 10 untreated controls were
dead. 7 of the 10 mice treated with congenic
bone marrow were dead and 6 out of 12 of the mice
treated with 100-105 x 106 mononuclear cord blood
cells were dead. The survival of mice receiving
cord blood mononuclear cells as compared to
untreated controls was significant (plt0.001).
Mouse congenic bone marrow usually has a parallel
survival curve to untreated controls, but in this
model it was also significant (plt0.05). Conclusion
Without the use of immunosuppression human
umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells
significantly delayed the onset of symptoms of
Parkinson's disease mice and increased the life
span. Support by Abraham S. Ende Research
Foundation.
Cord Blood and Storage
Blood Bank Stored at 4ºC For 10-13 days
MNC separated with ficol histopaque
Placentas
Gas permeable bag
HUCB
Animal model B6CBACa-AW-J/A-K cnj6ltwvgt Animal
age 6-12 weeks Animal were divided into
three groups 10 control mice
10 mice with congenic bone
marrow 10 mice with HUCB