Treating Parkinson’s disease with Cord Blood Transplantation

Parkinson’s disease is neurological condition that affects motor skills, speech patterns, and muscle function, among others. While the causes of this condition are still being argued, the researches that are conducted to develop possible treatments for Parkinson’s disease seem very promising. A myriad of studies and experiments show that the said condition can be treated by the transplantation of stem cells that can be found in the cord blood.
To understand possible treatments, it should be noted that Parkinson’s disease primarily affects the central nervous system, particularly the brain. It has been proven that the transplantation of stem cells can drastically alter the damages that this condition brings. This is because stem cells can boost brain function and enable normal activities like cognitive analysis, learning, walking, talking, and other functions.
The process of acquiring stem cells is easy since they can be collected during birth. This has become a lot easier nowadays because more and more women prefer to store cord or umbilical blood to have a say, safeguard tool against medical conditions that may develop in the future. The said blood is usually preserved in liquid nitrogen solution and stored in a private umbilical blood bank until the time that it will be used. Alternatively, it can also be donated to public umbilical blood banks to help others in need.
In addition to umbilical blood, the stem cells can also be acquired from bone marrow. This mode of stem cells collection is quite controversial because the whole process can be very painful. Also, to achieve its benefits, the bone marrow should be genetically compatible to patients or must come from an identical twin that shares the same DNA. With this in mind, finding a match for bone marrow transplantation can be very complicated.
Putting the aforementioned factors into consideration, it is no wonder that umbilical blood transplantation is more preferred by many medical experts nowadays. Not only is this procedure convenient and hassle free, collecting the said blood only takes a couple of minutes. Furthermore, the cells on the said blood are up to ten times more beneficial than those than can be found in bone marrow.
One of the best things about umbilical blood transplantation is the fact that it can work safely and effectively with minimal or no side effects. By saving and storing even a small amount of the said blood, many lives can be saved.