“Latest Stem Cells News”

Italian researchers have discovered new stem cells that could be potential sources of ‘spare’ neurons. A study carried out at the University of Verona has led to the discovery of Leptomeningeal Stem Cells (LeSC), a new population of stem cells located in the the meninges, which cover the entire central nervous system in mammals.

LeSCs are immature cells able to maintain themselves and differentiate into mature excitable neurons. This demonstrates that the brain has a greater regenerative capacity than what was believed until now. The results of the study, conducted on an animal model, were published recently in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

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Researchers at UTHealth have demonstrated in rats that transplanting genetically modified adult stem cells into an injured spinal cord can help restore the electrical pathways associated with movement. The results are published in today’s issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

In spinal cord injury, demyelination, or the destruction of the myelin sheath in the central nervous system, occurs. The myelin sheath, produced by cells called oligodendrocytes, wraps around the axons of nerves and helps speed activity and insulate electrical conduction. Without it, the nerves cannot send messages to make muscles move.

The research team, led by Qilin Cao, M.D., principal investigator and associate professor of neurosurgery at UTHealth (The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston), discovered that transplanted adult stem cells (oligodendrocyte precursor cells or OPC) from the spinal cord could become oligodendrocytes. The new cells helped restore electrical pathways of the spinal cord and therefore, function, in a process called remyelination.

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Stem cell injections may be able to cure the crippling effects of multiple sclerosis, according to a study published today. Four out of five adults in the early stages of Muscular Sclerosis who were injected with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow experienced improvements in their conditions after three years, and the rest of the patients experienced a stabilization of their conditions. Dr. Doug Brown of the Muscular Sclerosis Society said that encouraging results have been obtained, and that it is exciting to see not only that the progression of the disability was stopped in this attempt, but it also appears to cure the damaging effects of the disorder; stem cells are increasingly demonstrating more potential to treat Muscular Sclerosis .

The challenge that must now be faced involves attempting their efficiency in studies with many people. Previous studies have shown that stem cell treatments stabilize Muscular Sclerosis , but have never suggested that it could cure its conditions. Muscular Sclerosis is the most common debilitating neurological condition, damaging myelin, the protective membrane that surrounds nervous fibers, making it difficult to control muscles.

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