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Women have known for years where a man's brain cells reside. Surprised the scientists are just now getting around to this research. Does this mean we will be "dumbing down America"? > ---------- > From: Murray Charters[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 10:53 PM > Subject: News: Sertoli cell transplants > > Testicles and transplants > Cells from the testes could help the brains of stroke patients recover > > Transplanting cells from the testes to the brain might one day help > patients recover from stroke, say researchers in the US. > > Sertoli cells isolated from the testes release growth factors that could > protect certain types of neurons in the hours following a stroke, > reports Cesar Borlongan from the National Institute on Drug Abuse > in Baltimore. > > The growth factors seem to specifically prevent dopamine-producing > neurons from dying, says Borlongan. Last year his group showed that > Sertoli cells could protect dopamine-producing cells in animals with > Parkinson's disease. > > Now they believe that Sertoli cell transplants could one day help the > five per cent of stroke patients whose damage is limited to the basal > ganglia, a region rich in dopamine cells. > > Sertoli cells are also ignored by the immune system in the same way > that sperm are not attacked. This means these cells should be a safe > and effective way to limit the damage in these patients, Borlongan says. > Because patients can tolerate a transplant of other people's Sertoli > cells, > women could receive transplants too. > > Chain reaction > > During a stroke, the loss of the blood supply rapidly kills a core group > of cells. > But in the hours afterwards, the damage becomes worse as dead cells in the > core trigger neighbouring cells to commit suicide. > > Borlongan mimicked the conditions of a stroke using rat cells in a culture > dish > Experiments showed that Sertoli cells protected dopamine-producing cells, > reducing the number of neurons that committed suicide. > > Borlongan's colleague Paul Sandberg from the University of South Florida > College of Medicine in Tampa has now just completed the first tests in > rats. > By injecting Sertoli cells into the penumbra region of rat brains within a > day > of a stroke, the rats suffered less severe motor deficits. This suggests > that > many of the vulnerable cells were saved. > > Borlongan knocked out various growth factors produced by Sertoli cells and > found that the most likely protective substance is a peptide called > glial-derived > neurotrophic factor, or GDNF. > > The advantage of using Sertoli cells to deliver GDNF is that they can keep > up > production for long periods of time. > > Correspondence about this story should be directed to > [log in to unmask] > > 1157 GMT, 8 November 2000 > Helen Phillips, New Orleans > > http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999146 > http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999146 >