The Terasawa Laboratory
Faculty > Ei Terasawa
Ei Teresawa
Professor, Pediatrics/Primate Center
terasawa@primate.wisc.edu
Organ System/Disease Focus
Parkinson’s disease
Aligned Research Focus
Cell replacement therapy
Research Description
I am interested in studying whether embryonic stem cells that are transformed into dopamine neurons can be used as a tool for treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
We use rhesus monkeys in which Parkinsonian symptoms are induced by the neurotoxin, MPTP.
The results from a preliminary study indicate that grafted embryonic stem cells into the striatum and substantia nigra survived for several months and parkinsonian symptoms partly improved.
Selected References
Terasawa E, Keen KL, Kim W, Frost SI, Piscetelli GM, Gallager CL, Alexander AL, Converse A, Nickles RJ, Dejesus OT, Thomson JA, Zhang SC. Effects of embryonic stem cell transplantation in parkinsonian monkeys. Abstracts of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience 31(No. 329.13), November 12-16, 2005, Washington, DC.