Clinical translation of stem cell transplantation in Parkinson's disease.
In Parkinson's disease (PD), the main pathology underlying the motor symptoms is a loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. Clinical trials of intrastriatal transplantation of human foetal mesencephalic tissue have shown that the grafted dopaminergic neurons re-innervate the striatum, restore striatal dopamine release and, in some cases, induce major, long-lasting improvement of motor function.