X-Message-Number: 11637
From: "Scott Badger" <>
Subject: Fw: Adult Human Brain Stem Cells Reproduce In Vitro
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 08:06:04 -0500

I thought this may interest some on this list,

Cheers,

Scott


Gina Miller <> wrote:
 
> Adult Human Brain Stem Cells Reproduce In Vitro
> 
> Brain stem cells recovered from living adult human tissue have 
> successfully reproduced in vitro at the University of Tennessee-
> Memphis health science center. Additional research from the same 
> laboratory also shows successful isolation and cultivation of mouse 
> brain stem cells recovered as long as five to seven days postmortem. 
> Scheduled this month for publication in a special issue of 
> Experimental Neurology, these findings could provide a possible 
> alternative to the research use of embryonic stem cells, an approach 
> in stem cell biology and its possible therapeutic use that raises 
> controversial ethical issues. 
> 
> Dr. Valery G. Kukekov of UT-Memphis and Methodist Healthcare of 
> Memphis, is lead author on the paper detailing the growing of adult 
> brain stem cells recovered from surgical specimens taken from 
> patients ranging in age from 24 to 57. The paper is titled 
> "Multipotent Stem/Progenitor Cells with Similar Properties Arise from 
> Two Neurogenic Regions of Adult Human Brain." 
> 
> Dr. Eric D. Laywell of UT-Memphis is lead author of the paper 
> detailing the growing of brain stem cells recovered from mouse 
> cadavers five to seven days postmortem. Laywell's paper is titled 
> "Multipotent Neurospheres Can Be Derived from Forebrain Subependymal 
> Zone and Spinal Cord of Adult Mice after Protracted Postmortem 
> Intervals." 
> 
> The work is from the laboratory of Dr. Dennis A. Steindler, UT-
> Memphis professor of neurobiology and a co-author on both papers. 
> Describing the work, Steindler said, "This new era of applying 
> knowledge gained from genetics, molecular, cellular and developmental 
> biology is much more than just the discussion of the ethical issues 
> surrounding embryonic and fetal cell research, and the controversy 
> over cloning animals and human beings. 
> 
> "This new research showing that stem/progenitor cells from adult 
> brains can be expanded in culture (ex vivo) offers hope for future 
> studies which could someday lead to autologous stem cell transplants 
> for self-repair regenerative approaches," said Steindler. "It now is 
> possible to think about using our own population of stem cells 
> because it appears they survive well into mature adulthood." 
> 
> Kukekov's research recovered cells from the hippocampus and the 
> subependymal zone (SEZ). The SEZ is a remnant left over from the 
> fetal/baby brain region remaining in the adult brain that surrounds 
> the fluid-filled spaces called ventricles. 
> 
> Kukekov said, "These results are encouraging because it means that 
> even senior persons have these cells. This gives us the opportunity 
> in the future, as the research expands, to take a small biopsy 
> specimen from a diseased person, grow the necessary cells and then 
> transplant them back to the same person." 
> 
> Kukekov said the research team is now working on describing the 
> molecular biologic characteristics of the cultured cells. "We cannot 
> move forward and be successful in experiments with propagation 
> without knowing how genes are expressed in the process and what 
> molecular events are occurring." 
> 
> Laywell's work with cadaveric mice successfully isolated and 
> recovered stem cells up to five to seven days after death when the 
> mice were kept at 4 degrees C. The cells were retrieved from the 
> adult mouse spinal cord and forebrain SEZ. Using the culturing 
> technique developed by Kukekov, the mouse cells grew and multiplied 
> and gave rise to both neurons and glia. 
> 
> Laywell said the number of surviving cells drops off rapidly with 
> time, but since they appear to be stem cells, only one is needed to 
> multiply in culture. 
> 
> Laywell said, "Bone marrow stem cells have been repopulated from 
> cadavers, so it seems to be a property of stem cells in general that 
> they can survive in conditions that other cells can't." 
> 
> Laywell's paper includes a single human-cadaver unpublished 
> observation which produced results similar to those found with the 
> mice. 
> 
> The research is an international collaborative effort with co-
> investigators in Bonn, Germany; Japan, and Memphis. The adult brain 
> tissue was provided with patient consent by Dr. Keith G. Davies, a 
> neurosurgeon with UT-Memphis and Semmes-Murphey Clinic and a co-
> author on the adult cell paper. 
> 
> Kukekov's work was funded by the Methodist/Le Bonheur Healthcare 
> Foundation. 
> 
> Laywell's work was funded by the Spinal Cord Research Foundation of 
> the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA). Steindler's work was funded 
> by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Daimler-Benz 
> Foundation funded the work of co-author Dr. Bjorn Scheffler. - By 
> Claire Lowry
> 
> 
> [Contact: Claire Lowry]
> 28-Apr-1999
> For More Science Coverage: UniSci Science and Research News
> http://unisci.com

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