Source: Nature
Published online 4 June 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.875
Corrected online: 9 June 2008
Summary:
Nature reports injections of human brain cells have treated abnormal brain development in mice with fatal brain disorders:
"Human brain cells have been used to correct abnormal brain development in mice with fatal brain disorders, offering hope for treating a range of neurological disorders including some deadly childhood genetic diseases. Those behind the new treatment hope that human clinical trials could be just a few years away. The treatment uses human glial progenitor cells — cells that can differentiate into the glial cells that, among other things, make up myelin. Myelin, a protein that insulates the long 'arms' of nerve cells, called axons, helps the conduction of neural signals throughout the nervous system."
