Stem Cell Transplantation for Parkinson’s Disease: Current Challenges and Perspectives
Xinlin Zeng, Hua Qin
Abstract
Parkinson's disease is the second most common form of neurodegeneration, and it poses a major threat to the quality of life of older adults. Stem cell transplantation, which has attracted widespread attention from researchers, is a new treatment that is demonstrating excellent potential for treating Parkinson's disease. This paper introduces the advantages, disadvantages, and current research on the progress of using stem cells for Parkinson's disease; briefly describes the strategies for controlling the differentiation of stem cells into dopaminergic neurons in vitro; highlights how transplanted cells improve the loss of dopaminergic neurons by interacting with the inflammatory microenvironment in the brain; and proposes that future stem cell research focus on finely regulating the signal pathways that influence the directed differentiation of dopaminergic neurons to maintain an appropriate balance between the modulatory factors that affect the inflammatory microenvironment and clarify the interaction between neurons and neuroglia.