Fetal tissue implant

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Fetal tissue implant or fetal cell therapy is an experimental medical therapy where researchers implant tissue from a fetus into a person as treatment of a disease. In the case of Parkinson's disease, it is hoped that the fetal tissue would produce chemicals, specifically dopamine, which is lacking in the diseased brain. This therapy is also being investigated for treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease. Fetal tissue is unique since it is fast growing and has a lower possibility of rejection from the host's immune system than adult cells.[1]

Uses

In 1982, seven people in Santa Clara County, California were diagnosed with Parkinsonism after having used MPPP contaminated with MPTP. In 1992, two of the seven patients were successfully treated at Lund University Hospital in Sweden with neural grafts of fetal tissue. One patient, who had been essentially paralyzed, regained enough motor function to ride a bicycle.[2]

Ethical and political concerns

Because the source of the tissue is aborted fetuses, there are significant legal and ethical issues being discussed. Federal funding for embryonic tissue research was restricted in the United States under Presidents Reagan and Bush before being lifted under the Clinton administration.[3]

See also

References

  1. Applications, Institute of Medicine (US) Conference Committee on Fetal Research and (1994), "Fetal Tissue Transplantation for Patients with Parkinson's Disease", Fetal Research and Applications: A Conference Summary, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2026-06-20
  2. Success reported using fetal tissue to repair a brain, The New York Times, 26 November 1992
  3. Biomedicine, Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Social and Ethical Impacts of Developments in; Bulger, Ruth Ellen; Bobby, Elizabeth Meyer; Fineberg, Harvey V. (1995), ""La Pénible Valse Hésitation": Fetal Tissue Research Review and the Use of Bioethics Commissions in France and the United States", Society's Choices: Social and Ethical Decision Making in Biomedicine, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2026-06-20