Restorative Therapies in Parkinson's Disease

- Restorative Therapies in a Historical Perspective

- Ethical Issues in the Approaches of Restorative Therapies for Parkinson's Disease

- Evolution of Parkinson's Disease and Treatment Requirements

- What New Treatments are Needed and the Role of Striatal Grafting

- Clinical Trial Design Issues

- Lessons Learnt from Early Clinical Neural Grafting in Parkinson's Disease

- Fetal Nigral Transplantation as a Therapy for Parkinson's Disease

- Imaging of the Parkinsonian Brain in Relation to Restorative Therapy

- Important Aspects of Surgical Methodology for Transplantation in Parkinson's Disease

- Histopathological and Clinical Criteria for Analyzing Transplanted Human Dopamine Cells in Parkinson's Disease

- Dyskinesias and Neural Grafting in Parkinson's Disease

- Porcine Neural Xenotransplantation: Current Status

- Adult-Derived Stem Cells for Transplantation in Parkinson's Disease

- Embryonic Stem Cells for Grafting in Parkinson's Disease

- Delivery of GDNF For Parkinson's Disease: Transition of a Neuroprotective Treatment Strategy from Basic Sciences to Clinical Application

- Genetically Modified Cells as a Source for Grafting in Parkinson'se Disease

- In Vivo Gene Therapy as a Potential Treatment for Parkinson's Disease

In this exciting and timely book new approaches to repairing the brains of people suffering from Parkinson s disease are described by leading experts. Never in history has there been greater hope that novel experimental therapies can support significant restoration of brain function. Restorative therapy that can be applied in large numbers of patients does not yet exist, but the initial trials have provided a fundamental insight into the potential for plasticity in the diseased brain. This book gives an overview of the current state-of-the-art research for brain repair, what the challenges are, and an indication of what research can provide for the next generation of people with Parkinson s disease. The comprehensive chapters are geared to an audience of neuroscientists, neurologists, neurosurgeons and anyone interested in how findings in the research laboratory can effectively be transferred to the clinic.