高清福利片

Scientists at the University of Sydney鈥檚 appear to have reversed signs of 聽dementia in 13-year old Timmy by injecting him with his own stem cells.

Timmy lives with his owners, Tony and Michele Leeder-Smith, in regional Dapto, two hours from Sydney.

鈥淗e started getting up in the middle of the night and would sit in the kitchen where he would stare and bark at nothing,鈥� says Tony Leeder-Smith. 鈥淲hen Timmy鈥檚 conditioned worsened he could no longer work out how to climb onto the bed or use the dog door.鈥�

Timmy was suffering from a form of dementia called canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD), which affects up to one in seven of dogs aged ten and above.

鈥淧eople think it鈥檚 a normal part of ageing and getting old, but that鈥檚 wrong,鈥� says the Brain and Mind Centre鈥檚 , who is leading the 聽Timmy participated in.

鈥淐CD is a specific medical condition with its own neurodegenerative pathology and long-term trajectory, and vets are beginning to appreciate this.鈥�

Canine Cognitive Dysfunction has similarities to Alzheimer鈥檚 dementia in humans. These include memory loss, getting lost around the house, nocturnal agitation and incontinence. The most common sign of Canine Cognitive Dysfunction in dogs is staring blankly at walls.

Dementia in dogs and humans is characterized by a build up of cerebral proteins known as amyloid plaques, linked to the death of large numbers of brain cells. This process typically begins in the hippocampus鈥攖he brain鈥檚 memory centre鈥攚hich is why memory is often the first casualty of dementia. From there, the damage gradually spreads to interfere with general brain and bodily functions.

Because the two conditions appear to be the same at a behavioral and biological level, and the brains of dogs are structurally very similar to humans, trialing results in dogs is predicted to translate well to humans. 鈥淚鈥檓 very confident that results from our trial, whether positive, negative or inconclusive, will be directly translatable to human patients,鈥� Valenzuela says.

There were two main steps in Timmy鈥檚 treatment that involved collaboration between staff at the University of Sydney Veterinary Teaching Hospital, human neurosurgeon Dr Erica Jacobsen and Valenzuela鈥檚 stem cell team.

In August they took a small piece of skin from Timmy鈥檚 abdomen and used it to harvest and grow-up half a million stem cell-like cells in the lab. A few weeks later the cells were injected under anaesthetic into the dog鈥檚 hippocampus using Timmy鈥檚 MRI brain scan data.聽

By mid-November Timmy鈥檚 owners reported a significant improvement in Timmy鈥檚 night-time sleeping patterns such that he was getting up only once during the night, orientating himself through the doggie door to relieve himself, then coming back on his own to his sleeping area. He was also spontaneously more affectionate with the owners and getting along better with the other dogs in the household.

鈥淭hese latest results are really very promising,鈥� says Valenzuela, 鈥淏ut let鈥檚 not forget that this just the first successful patient, so we need to complete more patient transplants before we can be sure the treatment is effective.鈥�

Timmy鈥檚 improvement has also been independently verified by his improved score on a rating scale developed by Valenzuela and his University of Sydney colleagues.

鈥淏efore the procedure Timmy scored 57 on the Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Rating (CCDR) score, indicating mild dementia," says Valenzuela. 鈥淎fter the stem cell transplant Timmy鈥檚 CCDR was reported as 20 by one owner and 34 by the other, which effectively means he no longer has the syndrome.鈥�

Scientists are already trialing tailored stem cell therapies in humans to treat conditions such as multiple sclerosis and age-related blindness. But it鈥檚 only recently that researchers have started to realise that stem cells may also be able to heal the brain.

鈥淲e used to think that we didn鈥檛 have the capacity to grow new brain cells and that those we were born were born with were the ones we died with,鈥� says Valenzuela. 鈥淏ut we now know that鈥檚 not true. We hope we can turbo charge the natural process of neuro-regeneration through the transplantation of customized cells.鈥�

鈥淲e are in no position to say if Timmy鈥檚 improvements are directly linked with the stem cell transplant,鈥� says Tony Leeder-Smith, 鈥渂ut we do know for sure our lives are now more bearable than they were 12 months ago.

鈥淲e realise we can鈥檛 change the fact Timmy is still physically an old man, but what鈥檚 really important to us is that we鈥檝e regained some of the connection with the loving little mate we lost along the way.鈥�

More information

To learn more about the DOGS+CELLS Trial go to or call Sarah O鈥橳oole on 0418 838 911.

To test your dog for CCD go to:聽