X-Message-Number: 16181
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 17:43:21 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Eugene Leitl <>
Subject: [isml] Corpses may supply neurons to the living (fwd)

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 11:33:26 -0700
From: DS2000 <>
Reply-To: 
To: isml <>
Subject: [isml] Corpses may supply neurons to the living

From The National Post,
http://www.nationalpost.com/tech/discovery/story.html?f=/stories/20010503/55
0548.html
-
Corpses may supply neurons to the living
Better than fetuses

Margaret Munro
National Post

There can be life after death for human brain cells, say scientists who are
growing neural cells from cadavers in their lab.

The technique works so well that Fred Gage, of the Salk Institute in La
Jolla, Calif., suggests cells from the newly dead might be grown for use in
transplantation and treatment of disease.

Gage and his colleagues report in the journal Nature today they have
cultured viable cells from about 20 newly dead infants, children and adults.
The cells -- harvested up to 20 hours after death -- were coaxed to grow and
multiply into new neurons and other "progenitor" cells.

The scientists say the work raises the possibility that brain cells, like
organs, can be taken from the dead and given to the living to treat
neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease.

While some people may squirm at the prospect, Gage and his colleagues
suggest it could be less ethically fraught than doing likewise with aborted
fetuses.

There have been several research trials, including one in Halifax, where
fetal brain cells were transplanted into the brains of people with
Parkinson's. Apart from controversy, such treatment is not promising since
fetal tissue is too scarce to supply enough cells to treat the hundreds of
thousands of people with neurodegenerative disorders.

Brain tissue from cadavers is much more abundant. And the cells can be
prodded into multiplying up to 70 times, according to the Nature report. It
notes brain cells taken from infants and children are more prolific than
adult ones, which multiplied about 30 times after being extracted.

The researchers used various growth factors and stimulating compounds to get
the cells to multiply in culture dishes, and found cells taken from the
hippocampus and ventricular zone of the brain yielded the most new cells.

The scientists say the "therapeutic merits" of the cells need to be
addressed and suggest that cells from cadavers be added to the list of
potential sources of cells for use in treating ailing brains.

Stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells that appear to have the ability
to turn into all kinds of different types of cells and tissues, are another
promising source of neural cells. Scientists hope it may one day be possible
to take a small number of an individual's cells and coax them to grow into
new neurons as needed. This could put an end to any need to harvest either
fetal or cadaver tissue.

A team from Rockefeller University and the Sloan-Kettering Institute
reported in last week's issue of Science that they had snipped cells from
the tails of mice and transformed them into neurons through a process known
as "therapeutic" cloning.

The tail cells were used to create embryonic stem cell lines, which were
then turned into neurons and other cell types. "These cell lines can be
differentiated reliably into cells of potential therapeutic relevance, such
as dopamine-producing neurons" for use in treating Parkinson's disease, says
Teruhiko Wakayama, the lead author.

His colleague Peter Mombaerts sees plenty of other possible applications.
"We don't see the relevance of this work as limited to any one condition,
but believe that we have demonstrated the feasibility of the first steps of
therapeutic cloning in general, albeit in mice," says Mombaerts. "Starting
with a harmless tail biopsy of an adult mouse, we have shown that we can
produce an essentially unlimited supply of highly differentiated cells with
potential therapeutic interest. Importantly, the overall efficiency of this
sequence of manipulations is quite good: The procedure is reproducible."

--
Dan S



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