Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: November 27, 2007
Summary:
An MIT research team’s latest finding suggests that stem cell therapies for the brain could be much more complicated than previously thought. In a study published in the Public Library of Science (PloS) Biology on Nov. 13, MIT scientists report that adult stem cells produced in the brain are pre-programmed to make only certain kinds of connections—making it impossible for a neural stem cell originating in the brain to be transplanted to the spinal cord, for instance, to take over functions for damaged cells.
