Researchers Make Nerve Cells From Bone Marrow
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2000 (Reuters) - Researchers said on Monday they
had coaxed master cells from bone marrow into becoming
nerve cells, and said they hoped they could use these cells to treat
conditions ranging from paralysis to Alzheimer's disease.
The team at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey say
they developed a culture that makes stem cells -- the
so-called master cells of the body -- turn into nerve cells ''like
wildfire.''
They hope their formula can be used to help produce treatments using a
patients' own cells.
``These cells grow like wildfire in culture, so we have a virtually
unlimited supply,'' Dr. Ira Black, chairman of the department of
neurosciences at the university, said in a telephone interview.
Stem cells have been the subject of intense study by scientists, who
hope that they can be used to grow tissue and perhaps even
organs on demand, if only they can learn the secret of how to direct
their growth.
Black's team worked with stromal stem cells, which are found in the bone
marrow and which give rise to bone, muscle, fat and certain other kinds
of cells.
Writing in the Journal of Neuroscience Research, the researchers said
they started out with rat stem cells grown in the
laboratory, and then confirmed their findings using human stem cells in
lab dishes.
The secret to making them grow, Black said, was in the growth medium
used to keep and grow cells in labs.
``It is a combination of ingredients that we used,'' he said. These
included antioxidants, which had been shown to help neurons
live and grow, and growth factors such as fibroblast growth factor
(FGF).
``Now we have the optimal medium which results in the conversion of 80
percent of the cells into neurons, which in this area is
astronomically high.''
Now they are testing to see what the cells can do.
``We are transplanting the cells into live rats and initially we've
begun with normal rats to answer some very simple questions --
will the cells survive in various areas of the brain and the spinal cord
and the answer is yes they do,'' Black said.
So far they have lived for months, without causing any detectable
ill-effects in the rats, he said.
Next they will test the cells in animals with Alzheimer's, stroke,
PARKINSON'S disease and spinal cord injuries.
Other studies have suggested that injured cells send out chemical calls
for help to which stem cells can respond. One study has
shown stem cells migrating through the brain and replacing damaged
cells.
Black said it might be possible to grow these cells, inject them into an
injured spinal cord or damaged brain, and watch them go
to work repairing damage. It is more likely, however, that scientists
will have to help out the stem cells a little bit.
``I think it will be combination of different approaches that ultimately
will work,'' Black said.
``We have found that the spinal cord contains special growth factors
that enhance the regrowth of damaged neurons. In
addition, there are inhibitory factors that prevent regrowth, so
probably the ultimate therapy, which none of us can picture yet,
would be a combination of the use of cells, stimulation factors and the
inhibition of antagonistic factors.''
Black, who also works at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at
Rutgers University, said the university had applied for a
patent on the special growth medium.
The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which helped fund the study
along with the National Institutes of Health,
welcomed the findings.
``The possibilities for spinal cord and brain repair suggested by this
study are quite profound,'' Susan Howley, executive vice
president and director of research at the foundation, said in a
telephone interview.
``Now ... we need to see if these cells help to promote functional
recovery.''
Reeve, an actor paralyzed in a riding accident, recently told Congress
he hopes stem cell research will cure him.
Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20000814/sc/health_paralysis_dc_1.html
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
[log in to unmask]
Today’s Research...
Tomorrow’s Cure
