Very interesting. Does anybody know anything else re:
this brain cell gene therapy business? Clinical
trials,etc.? Researcher's name looks familiar but I
can't recall in what context.     Carole H.

--- Joao Paulo Carvalho <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Good news from BBC to share with you :
> ---------------------------------
>              Genes help brain recapture  youth
>
>              As the brain ages, many cells shrink
> but few die
>              Withered brain cells could bloom again
> using gene therapy
>
>              techniques to restore them to their
> former glory,
> scientists
>              have said.
>
>              The finding could help doctors develop
> new therapies for
>              diseases such as Alzheimer's, which
> causes a breakdown in
>
>              brain function.
>
>              It also reinforces scientists
> understanding of how the
> brain
>              works and suggests that old brain cells
> do not die, they
>              simply shrivel.
>
>              The technique has been shown to restore
> the brain cells
> in
>              monkeys - although an ongoing study is
> examining whether
> it
>              reinvigorates memory and thinking - and
> the researchers
> are
>              seeking permission to test it on
> patients with
> Alzheimer's
>              disease.
>
>              Cells survive
>
>              Dr Mark Tuszynski, of the University of
> California, San
>              Diego, led the study and explained how
> his team sees the
>              ageing process of the brain.
>
>                                  "We've all heard
> the dogma
>                                  that we lose 10,000
> neurones
>                                  (brain cells) a day
> after the age
>                                  of 20," he said.
> "Well, that is
>                                  false. That doesn't
> happen."
>
>                                  A count of cells in
> the cortex - a
>                                  key area in the
> brain involved in
>                                  thinking - showed
> that very few
>                                  were lost with age,
> he said.
>
>                                  However, cells in
> the part
>                                  known as the basal
> forebrain,
>                                  were dramatically
> affected by
>                                  age and had stopped
> producing
>              certain chemicals - a change that
> affects thinking
> ability in the cortex.
>
>              "These cells are like the air traffic
> controllers of the
> brain," Dr
>              Tuszynski said.
>
>              The cells were not dead, however, and
> when genes that
> make
>              nerve growth factor (NGF) - an
> essential chemical found
> in
>              the brain - were injected into the
> brain, they were
> revived.
>
>              Human tests next
>
>              The researchers used eight monkeys with
> an average age of
>
>              23 - the monkey equivalent of the late
> 60s to 70s in
> humans.
>
>              The researchers inserted the NGF gene
> into skin cells and
>
>              then injected the modified cells into
> the front of the
> monkeys'
>              brains. Four monkeys got injections of
> skin cells without
> the
>              gene.
>
>              "We restored the number of cells we
> could detect to about
>
>              92% of normal for a young monkey and
> size of the cells
> was
>              restored to within 3%," Dr Tuszynski
> said.
>
>              The application of this technique to
> Alzheimer's - which
>              destroys chemical messengers used by
> the cells of the
> brain
>              to communicate with each other - will
> need to be tested
> in
>              humans, as animals do not suffer the
> disease in the same
>              way.
>
>              The researchers have already applied to
> the US Food and
>              Drug Administration for permission to
> run human trials,
>              although it would be a number of years
> before they could
> tell
>              if the treatment was effective.
>
>              The study was published in the
> Proceedings of the
> National
>              Academy of Sciences journal.
> ----------------
>
> Cheers ,
>    +----| Joao Paulo de Carvalho   |------ +
>    |         [log in to unmask]     |
>    +--------| Salvador-Bahia-Brazil |------+
>

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