There is exciting progress being made as researchers explore the potential
of different types of stem cells to slow MS activity and to repair damage to the nervous system.
Using two different types of stem cells, a...
However, when Ulrich Mueller at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and his colleagues studied the developing brains of mouse embryos, they found that neurons in the upper layers of the cortex are produced by
a different type of stem cell (Science, DOI: 10.1126 / science.1223616).
«I think it's a mistake to cast
the different types of stem cells as competing priorities,» George Daley, associate director of the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston, said at the hearing.
However, when Mueller and his colleagues studied the developing brains of mice embryos, they found that neurons in the upper layers of the cortex are produced by
a different type of stem cell.
Different types of stem cells, he says, appear to have diverse ways of regulating proliferation and differentiation.
There is also
a different type of stem cell that can be found in adults, and obtained without any harm or discomfort to the donor.
However, the ways in which
the different types of stem cells came to be accepted into the stem cell family is itself an interesting story, and one that can help paint a useful bigger picture.
«We knew that interactions between
the different types of stem cells are important for development, but the striking thing that our new work illustrates is that this is a real partnership - these cells truly guide each other,» Zernicka - Goetz tells BBC.