Source: University of Rochester Medical Center
Date: June 4, 2008
Summary:
Scientists have used human stem cells to dramatically improve the condition of mice with a neurological condition similar to a set of diseases in children that are invariably fatal, according to an article in the June issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell. With a one-time injection of stem cells just after birth, scientists were able to repair defective wiring throughout the brain and spinal cord – the entire central nervous system – of mutant “shiverer mice,” so called because of the way they shake and wobble. The work marks an important step toward the day when stem cells become an option for the treatment of neurological diseases in people.
Neuroscientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center injected a type of fetal human stem cell known as glial stem cells into newborn mice born with a condition that normally claims their lives within about 20 weeks of birth, after a lifetime of seizures and other serious consequences. While most of the 26 mice that received transplanted glial stem cells still died, a group of six lived far beyond their usual lifespan, and four appeared to be completely cured – a first for shiverer mice. The scientists plan to gather more evidence before trying the approach in sick children.
