Originally published August 28 2005
Researchers grow brain stem cells in a dish
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Scientists have managed to grow brain cells in a dish, outside the neurosphere, which has been challenging in the past, according to Medical News Today.
It's hard to grow stem cells in a dish.
In particular, while it is possible to multiply mouse embryonic stem cells in culture, propagating stem cells that are specific to distinct tissues (e.g. neural stem cells) has proven to be a challenge.
Neural stem cells are normally found in a specialized environment known as a neurosphere, which is thought to provide the necessary cellular signals to maintain populations of these undifferentiated cells.
In a new paper published in the open-access journal PLoS Biology, Austin Smith and colleagues have developed a method to propagate mouse brain stem cells derived from ES cells.
Their novel method creates an on/off switch for differentiation of tissue-specific stem cells: they can multiply without differentiation, and they can also become normal brain cells.
The authors also managed to cultivate the brain stem cells without re-creating the rarefied neurosphere.
To grow their stem cells, Smith et al. combined epidermal growth factor (EGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF), two small proteins that bind to stem cells and promote growth.
Previously, scientists had grown brain stem cells with FGF.
Upon removing FGF, the cells failed to differentiate and become mature.
The cells that Smith et al. grew, in contrast, became mature cells upon removal of the growth factor cocktail.
They observed both neurons and astrocytes, the two types of cells into which the brain stem cells mature.
In the future, scientists may use this new technique to produce large quantities of the cells to study their basic properties and also to explore their value for treating neurodegenerative afflictions, including Huntington disease, Parkinson disease, and Alzheimer disease.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml