"Grafted cells" refers to the process of transplanting living cells from one organism or tissue into another. This medical procedure helps replace or repair damaged cells or tissues in the recipient's body.
Full definition
Future work will attempt to increase the number
of grafted cells and improve hearing ability.
De Luca and colleagues were also able to track
which grafted cells regenerated the skin over time by using the different locations of the genetic insert as markers for individual cells and their progeny.
The fact that Connexin 30 knockout mice had a higher number of
grafted cells than normal mice, and that some of the grafted cells expressed CONNEXIN 30 is a very important finding when considering cell transplantation as a treatment for hereditary hearing loss caused by CONNEXIN deficiency.
However, the Connexin 30 knockout mice had more
grafted cells than the normal mice, and some of the grafted cells were found to express CONNEXIN 30.
This is a surprise, as conventional wisdom suggests that
the grafted cells, still only 11 to 16 years old, are too young to be affected in this way.
Most of
the grafted cells remained as progenitors, but some matured into typical human - looking astrocytes.
To apply in vivo imaging tools for non-invasive monitoring of the survival and growth of
the grafted cells, as well as tools to reveal adverse immune / inflammatory reactions to the graft;
To identify procedures and safety systems that will allow complete elimination of proliferative and / or tumour - forming cells from
the graft cell preparations;
«What was really exciting is that in both old and young brains, a small percentage of
the grafted cells retained their «stemness» feature and continuously produced new neurons,» said Bharathi Hattiangady, assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Medicine and co-first author of the study.
Although the success of
the grafted cells is exciting, there's still a lot of work to be done to conclude whether the extra grey matter actually improves cognition.
Xiaoning Han and colleagues in the laboratories of Steven Goldman and Maiken Nedergaard at the University of Rochester Medical Center posed an interesting question — can you enhance the processing ability of one species by surgically implanting and
grafting cells from the brain of another «smarter» species?