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) ______________________________________________________________ ICBMTO : N48 10'07'' E011 33'53'' http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204 57F9CFD3: ED90 0433 EB74 E4A9 537F CFF5 86E7 629B 57F9 CFD3 ---------- 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 [ISML] Insane Science Mailing List - To subscribe: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/isml Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16181