Neurons Made from Stem Cells Drive Brain Activity After Transplantation in Laboratory Model

Source: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute

Date: November 15, 2012

Summary:

Researchers and patients look forward to the day when stem cells might be used to replace dying brain cells in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Scientists are currently able to make neurons and other brain cells from stem cells, but getting these neurons to properly function when transplanted to the host has proven to be more difficult. Now, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have found a way to stimulate stem cell-derived neurons to direct cognitive function after transplantation to an existing neural network.

The study was published November 7 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Researchers at the Doorstep of Stem Cell Therapies for MS, Other Myelin Disorders

Source: University of Rochester Medical Center

Date: October 25, 2012

Summary:

When the era of regenerative medicine dawned more than three decades ago, the potential to replenish populations of cells destroyed by disease was seen by many as the next medical revolution. However, what followed turned out not to be a sprint to the clinic, but rather a long tedious slog carried out in labs across the globe required to master the complexity of stem cells and then pair their capabilities and attributes with specific diseases.

In a review article appearing today in the journal Science, University of Rochester Medical Center scientists Steve Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., ≈, and Martha Windrem, Ph.D., contend that researchers are now on the threshold of human application of stem cell therapies for a class of neurological diseases known as myelin disorders – a long list of diseases that include conditions such as multiple sclerosis, white matter stroke, cerebral palsy, certain dementias, and rare but fatal childhood disorders called pediatric leukodystrophies.

StemCells, Inc. Announces Its Human Neural Stem Cells Restore Memory in Models of Alzheimer's Disease

Source: StemCells, Inc.
Date: July 17, 2012

Summary:

StemCells, Inc. today announced preclinical data demonstrating that its proprietary human neural stem cells restored memory and enhanced synaptic function in two animal models relevant to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The data was presented today at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2012 in Vancouver, Canada.

The study results showed that transplanting the cells into a specific region of the brain, the hippocampus, statistically increased memory in two different animal models. The hippocampus is critically important to the control of memory and is severely impacted by the pathology of AD. Specifically, hippocampal synaptic density is reduced in AD and correlates with memory loss. The researchers observed increased synaptic density and improved memory post transplantation. Importantly, these results did not require reduction in beta amyloid or tau that accumulate in the brains of patients with AD and account for the pathological hallmarks of the disease.

Researchers Create Alzheimer's Neurons from Pluripotent Stem Cells: First-Ever Feat Provides New Method to Understand Cause of Disease, Develop Drugs

Source: University of California, San Diego Health Sciences
Date: January 25, 2012

Summary:

Led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, scientists have, for the first time, created stem cell-derived, in vitro models of sporadic and hereditary Alzheimer's disease (AD), using induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with the much-dreaded neurodegenerative disorder. The feat, published in the January 25 online edition of the journal Nature, represents a new and much-needed method for studying the causes of AD, a progressive dementia that afflicts approximately 5.4 million Americans. More importantly, the living cells provide an unprecedented tool for developing and testing drugs to treat the disorder.

Hope for millions of Alzheimer's sufferers as scientists make brain cells from human skin

Source: The Independent
Date: 14 July 2011


The Independent reports researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have converted adult skin cells directly into mature nerve cells:

Skin cells from a 30-year-old woman have been turned directly into mature nerve cells similar to those found in the brain using a procedure that promises to revolutionise the emerging field of regenerative medicine. Scientists said they were astonished to discover that they could convert a person's skin tissue into functioning nerve cells – bypassing an intermediate stem-cell stage – by the relatively simple procedure of adding a few short strands of RNA, a genetic molecule similar to DNA. The breakthrough could soon lead to the generation of different types of human brain cells in a test tube which could be used to study a range of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

Efficient process using microRNA converts human skin cells into neurons, study shows

Source: Stanford University
Date: July 13, 2011

Summary:

The addition of two particular gene snippets to a skin cell’s usual genetic material is enough to turn that cell into a fully functional neuron, report researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The finding, published online July 13 in Nature, is one of just a few recent reports of ways to create human neurons in a lab dish. The new capability to essentially grow neurons from scratch is a big step for neuroscience research, which has been stymied by the lack of human neurons for study.

Study identifies stem cell-related changes that may contribute to age-related cognitive decline

Source: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: May 5, 2011

Summary:

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – A new study from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) offers an explanation for why our brains produce fewer and fewer neurons with age, a phenomenon thought to underlie age-related cognitive decline. The study, published as the cover story in the May 6 issue of Cell Stem Cell, suggests that this drop in production is due to the shrinking cache of adult stem cells in our brains. The new neurons are critical for some facets of memory—for instance, when similar events need to be memorized as separate episodes—and for the response to anti-depressant therapies and repair after brain injury.

Human Stem Cells Transformed Into Neurons Lost In Alzheimer’s

Source: Northwestern University
Date: March 4, 2011

Summary:

CHICAGO --- Northwestern Medicine researchers for the first time have transformed a human embryonic stem cell into a critical type of neuron that dies early in Alzheimer's disease and is a major cause of memory loss. This new ability to reprogram stem cells and grow a limitless supply of the human neurons will enable a rapid wave of drug testing for Alzheimer's disease, allow researchers to study why the neurons die and could potentially lead to transplanting the new neurons into people with Alzheimer's. The paper will be published March 4 in the journal Stem Cells.

Human skin cells transformed into stem cells and then neurons

In new, unpublished research, Northwestern Medicine scientists also have discovered a second novel way to make the neurons. They made human embryonic stem cells (called induced pluripotent stem cells) from human skin cells and then transformed these into the neurons. Scientists made these stem cells and neurons from skin cells of three groups of people: Alzheimer's patients, healthy patients with no family history of Alzheimer's, and healthy patients with an increased likelihood of developing the disease due to a family history of Alzheimer's because of genetic mutations or unknown reasons.

The Daily Telegraph, Chicago Sun-Times and HealthDay News published news stories based on this news release today.

Protein Restores Learning, Memory in Alzheimer's Mouse Model

Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Date: December 14, 2010

Summary:

Scientists at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio restored learning and memory in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model by increasing a protein called CBP. Salvatore Oddo, Ph.D., of the university's Department of Physiology and Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, said this is the first proof that boosting CBP, which triggers the production of other proteins essential to creating memories, can reverse Alzheimer's effects. The finding, reported this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a novel therapeutic target for development of Alzheimer's medications, scientists said.

Researchers Reverse Cognitive Decline in Fruit Flies With Alzheimer’s Gene Mutation

Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Date: July 15, 2010

Summary:

PHILADELPHIA – Investigators have found that fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) males -- in which the activity of an Alzheimer’s disease protein is reduced by 50 percent -- show impairments in learning and memory as they age. What’s more, the researchers were able to prevent the age-related deficits by treating the flies with drugs such as lithium, or by genetic manipulations that reduced nerve-cell signaling.

The research team -- Thomas A. Jongens, Ph.D., associate professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Sean M. J. McBride M.D, Ph.D. and Thomas McDonald M.D., at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and Catherine Choi M.D., Ph.D. at Drexel University College of Medicine – worked with the familial form of Alzheimer’s disease (FAD), an aggressive form of the disease that is caused by mutations in one of the two copies of the presenilin (PS) or amyloid precursor protein (APP) genes. Studies in animal models have previously shown that the FAD-linked PS mutations lead to less presenilin (psn) protein activity.

Their findings are published in this week’s issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Discovery of stem cell illuminates human brain evolution, points to therapies

Source: University of California - San Francisco
Date: May 24, 2010

Summary:

UCSF scientists have discovered a new stem cell in the developing human brain. The cell produces nerve cells that help form the neocortex – the site of higher cognitive function—and likely accounts for the dramatic expansion of the region in the lineages that lead to man, the researchers say. Future studies of these cells are expected to shed light on developmental diseases such as autism and schizophrenia and malformations of brain development, including microcephaly, lissencephaly and neuronal migration disorders, they say, as well as age-related illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies also will allow scientists to track the molecular steps that the cell goes through as it evolves into the nerve cell, or neuron, it produces. This information could then be used to prompt embryonic stem cells to differentiate in the culture dish into neurons for potential use in cell-replacement therapy. The study is reported in a recent issue of the journal Nature, (vol. no. 464, 554-561; issue 7288).

Neuroscientists reverse Alzheimer’s-like memory loss by targeting signaling protein in fruitflies

Source: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: March 29, 2010

Summary:

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – By blocking the cellular signaling activity of a protein, a team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has prevented memory loss in fruit flies caused by brain plaques similar to those thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease in humans. The study also resolves a long-standing controversy about the role of this protein, PI3 kinase, which was previously thought to have a protective function against the disease. The study appears online, ahead of print, March 29th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences..

Scientists identify strategies to protect new brain cells against Alzheimer's disease

Source: Gladstone Institutes
Date: December 3, 2009

Summary:

Stimulating the growth of new neurons to replace those lost in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an intriguing therapeutic possibility. But will the factors that cause AD allow the new neurons to thrive and function normally? Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND) have discovered that two main causes of AD amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides and apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) impair the growth of new neurons born in adult brains. What is more, they have identified drug treatments that can normalize the development of these cells even in the presence of Aβ or apoE4. The findings are described in two separate papers published in the current issue of Cell Stem Cell. GIND investigator Li Gan, PhD, and her collaborators studied the development of neurons born in the hippocampus of adult mice genetically engineered to produce high levels of human Aβ in the brain. Surprisingly, Aβ initially accelerated the development of newborn neurons but then profoundly impaired their maturation at later stages of development.

Mouse Gene Suppresses Alzheimer’s Plaques and Tangles

Source: Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Date: November 11, 2009

Summary:

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and colleagues have identified a novel mouse gene (Rps23r1) that reduces the accumulation of two toxic proteins that are major players in Alzheimer’s disease: amyloid beta and tau. The amyloid and tau lowering functions of this gene were demonstrated in both human and mouse cells. Amyloid beta is responsible for the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Tau causes the tangles found within patients’ brain cells. The study was published in the journal Neuron on November 12. These findings could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

Neural stem cells offer potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease

Source: University of California - Irvine
Date: July 21, 2009

Summary:

UC Irvine scientists have shown for the first time that neural stem cells can rescue memory in mice with advanced Alzheimer's disease, raising hopes of a potential treatment for the leading cause of elderly dementia that afflicts 5.3 million people in the U.S.
Mice genetically engineered to have Alzheimer's performed markedly better on memory tests a month after mouse neural stem cells were injected into their brains. The stem cells secreted a protein that created more neural connections, improving cognitive function.
"Essentially, the cells were producing fertilizer for the brain," said Frank LaFerla, director of UCI's Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, or UCI MIND, and co-author of the study, which appears online the week of July 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Blood stem cell growth factor reverses memory decline in mice

Source: University of South Florida Health
Date: July 1, 2009

Summary:

A human growth factor that stimulates blood stem cells to proliferate in the bone marrow reverses memory impairment in mice genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of South Florida and James A. Haley Hospital found. The granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) significantly reduced levels of the brain-clogging protein beta amyloid deposited in excess in the brains of the Alzheimer's mice, increased the production of new neurons and promoted nerve cell connections. The findings are reported online in Neuroscience and are scheduled to appear in the journal's print edition in August.

NIST Membrane Model May Unlock Secrets of Early-Stage Alzheimer’s

Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Date: July 22, 2008

Summary:

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and three collaborating institutions are using a new laboratory model of the membrane surrounding neurons in the brain to study how a protein long suspected of a role in early-stage Alzheimer’s disease actually impairs a neuron’s structure and function. The team’s findings are reported in a new paper in the Biophysical Journal.

Statins Have Unexpected Effect on Pool of Powerful Brain Cells

Source: University of Rochester Medical Center
Date: July 3, 2008

Summary:

Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins have a profound effect on an elite group of cells important to brain health as we age, scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found. The new findings shed light on a long-debated potential role for statins in the area of dementia. Neuroscientists found that statins, one of the most widely prescribed classes of medication ever used, have an unexpected effect on brain cells. Researchers looked at the effects of statins on glial progenitor cells, which help the brain stay healthy by serving as a crucial reservoir of cells that the brain can customize depending on its needs. The team found that the compounds spur the cells, which are very similar to stem cells, to shed their flexibility and become one particular type of cell.

Study identifies toxic key to Alzheimer’s disease memory loss

Source: University College Dublin
Date: June 30, 2008

Summary:

Using new scientific techniques, scientists have unlocked the cascade of molecular events that lead to Alzheimer’s disease. The scientific findings published in the latest edition of Nature Medicine suggest a potential new target for the development of drug therapies to fight the irreversible and degenerative disease. The team of Irish and international researchers have identified that the accumulation of a particular protein (called amyloid ß-protein - Aß) in the brain initiates Alzheimer’s disease and that it directly alters the structure and function of brain cells. The findings place a significant emphasis on the development of new therapeutic strategies targeted at the reduction of the formation of Aß as opposed to the reduction of the plaque burden associated with the disease.

Repairing damage to brain may be nearer: Study gets stem cells to function in mice

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
Date: June 25, 2008

Summary:

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research successfully turned embryonic stem cells into nerve cells in mice:

"A team of San Diego scientists has moved embryonic stem cell research a step closer to helping repair the brains of stroke victims and people with diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The team, led by the Burnham Institute's Stuart Lipton, figured out how to coax the embryonic stem cells of mice to become nerve cells that, when transplanted into a mouse brain damaged by stroke, link themselves to the existing network of neurons."