This should complete the truncated messages sent earlier. To contune
the second message, Ontogeny in Cambridge Mass. is working with
growth factors that can, in a Petri dish, transform stem cells into
mature dopamine producers.
Amgen has begun clinical trials of GDNF, glial derived neurotrophic
factor, injected into the brain, as presumably will Ontogeny's .
I just today found a third report- this one is in the 4 April '97
issue of Science.It is on the web at http://www.sciencemag.org.
To summarize, it reports that multipotential cells in the central
nervous system have been identified and defined mitogens have caused
proliferation of these cells in vitro{ in a Petri dish}. Factors that
control the differentiation of fetal stem cells into neurons and glia
have been defined in vitro and multipotential cells wiyh similar
signaling logic can be cultured from the adult central nervous
system. Thus neuroepithelial cells have the potential to integrate
into many brain regions.
It looks as if some real medical breakthroughs are occuring on the
non-invasive front! I don't relish the idea of catheters and
surgery!
Allan Goldman [log in to unmask]
