05:42 PM ET 07/20/98
Scientists grow brain cells for transplants
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists said Monday they had been
able to grow brain cells in the lab and use them to treat rats
for symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
They used stem cells -- a kind of cell that still has the
potential to become any kind of cell at all in the body, as
opposed to cells that are destined to become specific cells such
as liver or skin cells.
It is the first time that scientists have been able to grow
a specific kind of brain cell and have them live and function
when transplanted into a living brain.
``Cells are the ultimate device for delivering substances to
the brain, so this could become one of the most widely used
therapies in medical research,'' Ronald McKay of the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) said in a
statement.
McKay's team took stem cells from the brains of rat embryoes
and grew them in the laboratory. They acted like brain cells,
forming networks with one another and producing dopamine and
other brain chemicals.
They injected these little colonies of brain cells into the
brains of rats that had the dopamine-producing regions of their
brains removed. Such rats develop the symptoms of Parkinsons.
After the injections, the rats' symptoms got better. Most
showed a 75 percent improvement in motor function after 80 days.
So far the researchers say they are unable to get enough
cells to grow to do any real good.
``We've opened a door, but it's not yet clear that you can
drive a truck through it,'' McKay, whose findings were published
in the journal Nature Neuroscience, said.
But he thinks his lab can make rapid strides and hopes to be
able to test the procedure in humans within two to three years.
Tests are already underway in about 200 patients using brain
cells from aborted or miscarried human embryoes. But such
material is hard to come by.
McKay said his technique might make it possible for
researchers to grow their own supplies of cells.
Parkinson's, an incurable brain disease, affects between
500,000 and a million Americans.
Victims are missing the brain cells that produce dopamine,
an important message-carrying chemical linked with movement.
They develop tremors and other problems associated with
movement, progressing to dementia and death.
^REUTERS@
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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