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Scientists have performed the first successful neural stem cell transplant into the brains of four boys with Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease. The disorder is a rare but tragic condition that impacts motor abilities, coordination and cognitive function.
Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease does its damage by stripping away the fatty substance called myelin that surrounds brain cells. Myelin acts as an insulator, like rubber on the outside of a wire, helping the electrical impulses that carry information in the brain travel at high speeds.
Now, in two new studies, both published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers have shown that neural stem cells — cells that can turn into any type of brain cell — can be successfully implanted into the brain. More important, they showed that these brain cells often turn into a brain cell type called an oligodendrocyte — the type of cell that produces myelin.
They also demonstrated in both studies that the addition of the oligodendrocytes appears to improve the function of cells in the brain by adding new myelin.
In the first study, a group of researchers...
Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease does its damage by stripping away the fatty substance called myelin that surrounds brain cells. Myelin acts as an insulator, like rubber on the outside of a wire, helping the electrical impulses that carry information in the brain travel at high speeds.
Now, in two new studies, both published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers have shown that neural stem cells — cells that can turn into any type of brain cell — can be successfully implanted into the brain. More important, they showed that these brain cells often turn into a brain cell type called an oligodendrocyte — the type of cell that produces myelin.
They also demonstrated in both studies that the addition of the oligodendrocytes appears to improve the function of cells in the brain by adding new myelin.
In the first study, a group of researchers...