Stem Cell Research

Astrocytes Control Generation Of New Neurons From Neural Stem Cells

New research has shown how astrocytes control the generation of new neurons in the brain. Earlier research in the same laboratory demonstrated that astrocytes reduce brain tissue damage after stroke and that the integration of transplanted neural stem cells can be largely improved by modulating the activity of astrocytes.

“In the brain, astrocytes control how many new neurons are formed from neural stem cells and survive to integrate into the existing neuronal networks, said Milos Pekny, Professor and Laboratory Director, Center for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, Dept. of Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Gothenburg. "Astrocytes do this by secreting specific molecules but also by much less understood direct cell-cell interactions with stem cells.”

New Neural Stem Cell Population Identified; May Be Stem Cell Responsible For Higher Levels Of Thought, Conciousness

The new research reveals how neurons in the uppermost layers of the cerebral cortex form during embryonic brain development. The stem cell discovery may provide a first step in developing better treatments for cognitive disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism, which result from disrupted connections among these brain cells.

“The cerebral cortex is the seat of higher brain function, where information gets integrated and where we form memories and consciousness,” said Ulrich Mueller, a professor and director of the Dorris Neuroscience Center at Scripps Research. “If we want to understand who we are, we need to understand this area where everything comes together and forms our impression of the world.”

Mueller’s team identified a neural stem cell in mice that specifically gives rise to the neurons that make up the upper layers of the cerebral cortex. Previously, it was thought that all cortical neurons—those making up both the lower and upper layers—came from the same type of stem cell, called a radial glial cell, or RGC. A

Blood-Brain Barrier Building Blocks Generated From Human Stem Cells

The blood-brain barrier -- the filter that governs what can and cannot come into contact with the mammalian brain -- is a marvel of nature. It effectively separates circulating blood from the fluid that bathes the brain, and it keeps out bacteria, viruses and other agents that could damage it.

However, the barrier can be disrupted by disease, stroke and multiple sclerosis, for example, and also is a big challenge for medicine, as it can be difficult or impossible to get therapeutic molecules through the barrier to treat neurological disorders.

Now researchers have transformed stem cells into endothelial cells with blood-brain barrier qualities in a laboratory dish in an attempt to get the blood-brain barrier to share its secrets.

“The nice thing about deriving endothelial cells from induced pluripotent stem cells is that you can make disease-specific models of brain tissue that incorporate the blood-brain barrier,” explains Sean Palecek, a UW-Madison professor of chemical and biological engineering. “The cells you create will carry the genetic information of the condition you want to study.”

Autism And Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Dr. Ricardo Dolmetsch, associate professor of neurobiology, Stanford University, has generated stem cells from the cells of children with autism. This is a straight forward, brief interview which talks to the question of stem cells and autism. During the interview Dolmetsch gives a cogent explanation of the possibilities for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in disease and therapeutic research.

 

 

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research Advances Prompt Unique NIH Autism Research Grant

In a quiet but firm acknowledgement of adult stem cell transplant therapy and treatment potential from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell research, the National Institute of Health has granted Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) three million dollars over five years to collect skin cells from children with autism.  The skin cells will be induced into becoming neural cells which can then be studied to gain insight into the autism spectrum and hopefully to find corrective measures.

The NIH-funded research at CHOC will apply this new technology to fibroblasts derived from patients whose autism is clinically very well-characterized, as well as those derived from individuals without the disorder.  This efficient, non-invasive method for generating autism neural stem cells from living individuals will allow research that has never been possible before.

It will allow studies of the detailed properties of the induced autism neuron; studies of sufficient statistical power to allow researchers to compare and contrast the effects of autism on the developing human brain; and studies of the influence of environmental factors on these processes. Importantly, all data generated by these investigations will be made widely available to the scientific community. The cells lines themselves will also be made available through the existing CHOC-funded stem cell repository, the NHNSCR, which Dr. Phillip H. Schwartz, Ph.D., created in 2001.