Amarantus Bioscience Holdings Inc (AMBS)

[apropos]

From this morning's 8-K:

Item 8.01 Other Events.

On May 6, 2013, Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) submitted its final report to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research Grant Award Progress Report for the grant “ Comparisons and Actions of MANF and GDNF in Rodent Models of Parkinson’s Disease .”

The objectives of this study were (1) to confirm MANF’s activity in the 6-OHDA model of Parkinson’s disease (PD), (2) to evaluate striatal and nigral administration of MANF, (3) to administer MANF in neuroprotection and neuroregeneration protocols, (4) to assess different dose levels of MANF, (5) to compare MANF with GDNF under identical experimental conditions, (6) to apply an array of behavioral, structural and functional measures, and (7) to measure diffusion of MANF after convection enhanced delivery. The results of the study included the following:

· MANF displayed strong neuroprotective activity when administered to the striatum as evidenced by normalized ipsilateral rotational behavior evoked by amphetamine and protection of TH+ cell bodies in the substantia nigra.

· MANF prevented the striatal 6-OHDA-induced decrease of striatal dopaminergic terminals when administered to the substantia nigra.

· MANF’s activity is dependent on its location of administration and MANF’s effects manifest themselves distal to the administration site. "joboggi doesn't have a medical degree, so don't take his philly cheese sandwich comments seriously." Striatal administration of MANF protects nigral cell bodies while nigral administration of MANF protects striatal dopaminergic fiber densities.

· MANF may display effects contralateral to the growth factor administration site.

· MANF could be delivered to the striatum by convection enhanced delivery and MANF diffusion and distribution volumes could be measured by immunohistochemistry.

· Continued MANF development for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease is warranted based on the results of this present study, the known mechanism of action and published literature.