X-Message-Number: 9224
From:  (Randy Smith)
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics

Subject: "Cryopreserved Human Neuronal Cells... stored frozen ...to reverse 
deficits of stroke."
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 18:20:05 GMT
Message-ID: <>

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>Source: University Of Pennsylvania Medical Center 
>
>
>
>Posted 2/27/98 
>
>
>Transplanted Neurons Restore Function In Rats After Stroke 
>

>Transplants of human neurons derived from a tumor restored the movement and 
behavioral function of rats subjected to experimental stroke in a joint study by
researchers at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and the 
University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. The new findings are reported in the 
just-published February issue of the journal Experimental Neurology. 
>

>The neurons originated in an embryonal cancer cell line that was treated with 
retinoic acid in a process to differentiate the cells and to render them benign.
>

>Significantly, when the human neuronal cells were frozen and then thawed prior 
to transplantation, they proved equally as effective as fresh cells in easing 
the symptoms of stroke in rats. Furthermore, the tumor-derived cells did not 
revert to abnormal tissue growth after transplantation into the brains of rats.
>

>"This suggests that human neuronal cell transplantation may be a useful 
alternative to fetal tissue in treating strokes and other neurodegenerative 
disorders," says Paul R. Sanberg, PhD, professor and director of neurosurgical 
research at USF and senior author on the study. "The grafts' resistance to the 
effects of cryopreservation is rather remarkable. Frozen fetal brain cells do 
not survive long after they are thawed." 
>

>Experimental transplantation using fetal brain cells has been successful in a 
small number of patients with Parkinson's disease, but the potential for 
widespread use of fetal tissue is limited, partly because of difficulties 
associated with preservation. 
>

>"The clinical potential is that a readily available supply of cryopreserved 
human neuronal cells, made under controlled conditions and stored frozen, could 
be used as replacement therapy to reverse the deficits of stroke," notes 
Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at 
Penn and a coauthor on the study. 

That's an interesting idea.

>

>Lee and Penn colleague John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, also a professor of 
pathology and laboratory medicine and study coauthor, developed a procedure to 
isolate and purify the NT2N neurons from a culture of mixed cells removed from a
cancerous human tumor. Treatment with retinoic acid altered the cells so that 
they became noncancerous and differentiated to take on the characteristics of 
neurons. 
>

>The process has been patented by the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center 
and licensed to Layton BioScience Inc. of Atherton, California, which provided 
the cells used in the USF study. Layton BioScience is developing the cells, 
known commercially as hNT-Neurons, for the treatment of several neurological 
disorders. 
>

>In the experiments, the USF researchers implanted the hNT-Neurons into the 
brains of rats. In rats receiving immunosuppressive drugs to control graft 
rejection, function was restored and maintained for more than six months 
following transplantation. 
>

>"The hNT-Neurons were just as beneficial as fetal brain cells alone in 
improving movement and behavioral recovery," observes Sanberg. 
>

>The University of South Florida Health Sciences Center has graduated 2,000 
doctors, 3,300 nurses, and 1,000 public health professionals. In 1996-1997, 350 
faculty-physicians in the College of Medicine handled 470,000 patient visits, 
HSC sponsored research topped $50 million, and USF physicians provided $20 
million worth of uncompensated care. 
Randy Smith
Cryonics: Gateway to the Future?
http://members.wbs.net/homepages/c/r/y/cryofan1.html
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