Stem cells regrow damaged nerves in rats: study
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:13 pm
Jun 19, 2006 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells taken from mouse embryos have helped paralyzed rats move again, researchers said on Monday.
The study was the best evidence so far that controversial embryonic stem cells might be used to treat people with spinal cord and other traumatic injuries, the researchers said.
"This study provides a 'recipe' for using stem cells to reconnect the nervous system," Dr. Douglas Kerr of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said in a statement.
"It raises the notion that we can eventually achieve this in humans, although we have a long way to go … We found that we needed a combination of all of the treatments in order to restore function."
Kerr and colleagues used a soup of compounds called growth factors to cause stem cells from the mouse embryos to develop into a type of nerve cell called a motor neuron.
Writing in the Annals of Neurology, they said the transplanted cells, combined with the right mix of compounds, helped paralyzed rats regrow some of their nerve cells and use their hind legs.
"This work is a remarkable advance that can help us understand how stem cells might be used to treat injuries and disease and begin to fulfill their great promise," said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study.
more...... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2095585
This is what I need; I need a few motor neurons. - Why isn’t more being done with respect to studies like this when we have seen several promising animal studies using such cells, including this study? What is holding up this research?
Here is more:
Video of mouse;
http://hopkinsneuro.org/tm/edu_embryonic_win.cfm
Video - Rewiring the Nervous System to Restore Movement by Dr. Douglas Kerr and Dr. Adam Caplin;
http://hopkinsneuro.org/restore/kerr-windows.cfm
Profile Dr. Kerr;
http://hopkinsneuro.org/tm/doc.cfm?i=21
The study was the best evidence so far that controversial embryonic stem cells might be used to treat people with spinal cord and other traumatic injuries, the researchers said.
"This study provides a 'recipe' for using stem cells to reconnect the nervous system," Dr. Douglas Kerr of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said in a statement.
"It raises the notion that we can eventually achieve this in humans, although we have a long way to go … We found that we needed a combination of all of the treatments in order to restore function."
Kerr and colleagues used a soup of compounds called growth factors to cause stem cells from the mouse embryos to develop into a type of nerve cell called a motor neuron.
Writing in the Annals of Neurology, they said the transplanted cells, combined with the right mix of compounds, helped paralyzed rats regrow some of their nerve cells and use their hind legs.
"This work is a remarkable advance that can help us understand how stem cells might be used to treat injuries and disease and begin to fulfill their great promise," said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study.
more...... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2095585
This is what I need; I need a few motor neurons. - Why isn’t more being done with respect to studies like this when we have seen several promising animal studies using such cells, including this study? What is holding up this research?
Here is more:
Video of mouse;
http://hopkinsneuro.org/tm/edu_embryonic_win.cfm
Video - Rewiring the Nervous System to Restore Movement by Dr. Douglas Kerr and Dr. Adam Caplin;
http://hopkinsneuro.org/restore/kerr-windows.cfm
Profile Dr. Kerr;
http://hopkinsneuro.org/tm/doc.cfm?i=21