Partially paralyzed rodents walk almost normally after human embryonic or
fetal brain stem cells repaired their spinal cord injuries in recent studies.
«We are developing
a fetal brain stem cell line to identify other fetal brain sugars that may be targets of Zika,» he adds.
Not exact matches
The latest findings show that genetic defects in the body's ability to manufacture carnitine might be associated with an increased risk of autism because carnitine deficiency interferes with the normal processes by which neural
stem cells promote and organize embryonic and
fetal brain development.
Using human
fetal «mini-brains» grown in 3 - D cultures, scientists determined that a specific protein produced by the Zika virus changes the properties of neural
stem cells in the developing
brain of an infected fetus, potentially causing microcephaly in newborns (Ki - Jun Yoon, abstract 103.06, see attached summary).
But scientists are making progress in refining these therapies, and the first ever trial of
fetal stem cells injected directly into the
brain is currently under way in children with Batten disease, a rare and fatal illness of the nervous system.
In the Cell
Stem Cell study, Zhiheng Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing sidestepped the mice's natural resistance to Zika virus by injecting a Samoan isolate directly into
fetal brains.
Mouse studies published this week in Cell and its sister journal Cell
Stem Cell and in Nature show precisely how the virus slows
fetal growth, damages the
brain, and leads to miscarriage.
A more highly publicised case was in 2009, when an Israeli teenager developed
brain and spinal tumours after receiving several implants of
fetal stem cells in Moscow to treat a rare degenerative condition.
A 2010 study in
Stem Cells and Development showed that
fetal cells can migrate to the
brain of a mother mouse and mature into neurons, Nelson says.
But
fetal tissue is scarce, and research in the past several years suggests that
stem cells, which can be mass produced in a test tube, can also replace damaged
brain tissue.
Human
fetal stem cells injected into the
brains of vervet monkeys may help treat the simian equivalent of Parkinson's, says Eugene Redmond of Yale University.
Human neural
stem cells are derived via fluorescence - activated cell sorting (FACS) from donated
fetal brain tissue.
Previous research in rodent disease models has shown that transplanted oligodendrocyte precursor cells derived from embryonic
stem cells and from human
fetal brain tissue can successfully create myelin sheaths around nerve cells, sometimes leading to dramatic improvements in symptoms.
Neural
stem cell lines derived from human
fetal brain tissue achieved the same feats, the researchers report in the October issue of Nature Neuroscience.
Past clinical trials of
stem cell therapies for chronic stroke patients used cells derived from tumors in humans and
brain tissue from
fetal pigs.
Studying a new type of pinhead - size, lab - grown
brain made with technology first suggested by three high school students, Johns Hopkins researchers have confirmed a key way in which Zika virus causes microcephaly and other damage in
fetal brains: by infecting specialized
stem cells that build its outer layer, the cortex.
NeuroStemcell is focused on the identification and systematic comparison of progenitor cell lines with the most favourable characteristics for mesDA and striatal GABAergic neuronal differentiation, generated either directly from human embryonic
stem (ES) cells, from Neural Stem (NS) cells derived from ES cells or fetal brain, from induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells or from in vitro short - term expanded neural progenitors from ventral midbrain grown as neurospheres (VMN, Ventral Midbrain Neurospheres) 4, and perform rigorous and systematic testing of the most prominent candidate cells in appropriate animals mod
stem (ES) cells, from Neural
Stem (NS) cells derived from ES cells or fetal brain, from induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells or from in vitro short - term expanded neural progenitors from ventral midbrain grown as neurospheres (VMN, Ventral Midbrain Neurospheres) 4, and perform rigorous and systematic testing of the most prominent candidate cells in appropriate animals mod
Stem (NS) cells derived from ES cells or
fetal brain, from induced Pluripotent
Stem (iPS) cells or from in vitro short - term expanded neural progenitors from ventral midbrain grown as neurospheres (VMN, Ventral Midbrain Neurospheres) 4, and perform rigorous and systematic testing of the most prominent candidate cells in appropriate animals mod
Stem (iPS) cells or from in vitro short - term expanded neural progenitors from ventral midbrain grown as neurospheres (VMN, Ventral Midbrain Neurospheres) 4, and perform rigorous and systematic testing of the most prominent candidate cells in appropriate animals models.
Parkinson's patients in the 1980s were guinea pigs, getting
fetal tissue transplants — a precursor of
stem - cell therapy — in their
brains.
Previously,
stem cells were found only in bone marrow,
brain tissue and
fetal tissue — sources that have caused both logistical and ethical problems.
Mendez, a pioneer who first transplanted
fetal stem cells into patients»
brains at Dalhousie nearly a decade ago, is the only surgeon in Canada, and one of only a few in the world, who can perform the intricate procedure.
Fetal human NSCs, isolated from the frontal
brain cortex of a 28 week term fetus, (SCP - 27, P1) were obtained from the National Human Neural
Stem Cell Resource (NHNSCR, Orange, CA).
The Zika virus is known to negatively impact the growth of
fetal brains and a group of researchers publishing in the journal Cell
Stem Cell have investigated the effect of Zika on the adult
brain reporting that infection can lead to cell death and reduced proliferation.
Neural
stem cells are found in adult or
fetal brain and spinal cord or derived from embryonic
stem cells, which have the capacity to become any cell type in the body, or induced pluripotent
stem (iPS) cells, tissue - specific cells that are reprogrammed in the lab to behave like embryonic
stem cells.