New Nerve Cells Produced from Stem Cells

Aug. 15, 2000 -- Scientists have been able to produce nerve cells in the lab byusing stem cells drawn from bone marrow, a breakthrough that couldhelp people with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease orspinal-cord injuries.

If the findings are borne out, they might one day enable doctorsto take cells from a patient’s bone marrow, turn them into nervecells and then inject them into patients’ brains and spinal cords,replacing injured cells.

The research, conducted at the University of Medicine andDentistry of New Jersey and MCP Hahnemann University inPhiladelphia, was funded in part by the Christopher Reeve ParalysisFoundation. An account of the research was published Monday in theJournal of Neuroscience Research, based in Los Angeles.

It could be years before the technique is tested in humans,however, since studies and tests in animals will be needed first.Still, other researchers were excited by the possibilities.

“Clearly it is important to generate neurons from othertissues,” neuroscientist Ronald McKay told the PhiladelphiaInquirer in today’s editions.

“We have to demonstrate that these cells will perform …specific functions” in the brain and spinal cord, and not behavelike stem cells only in the lab, said McKay, of the NationalInstitutes of Health.

“It’s really beautiful,” Dr. William Greenough, aneuroscientist at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign,told The New York Times. “I see this as a truly significant stepalong the way toward developing new technologies for the repair ofthe damaged brain.”

Transformations

Stem cells are stored in various organs and grow naturally intothe specific types of cells needed by those organs. Stem cells fromfetal tissue can grow into any type of cell; the latest studysuggests that the same might be true for adult stem cells.

Dr. Ira Black of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NewJersey reported the stem cells, treated with growth factors andantioxidants in tissue culture experiments, quickly divided intotwo cells — another stem cell and a nerve cell.

By tinkering with the chemical signals he used to stimulate theconversion, Black and his colleagues were able to turn 80 percentof the bone marrow cells taken from rats and humans into nervecells. He said he transplanted rat nerve cells to the brains andspinal cords of rats and found that they formed connections withother neurons and survived.

Stem cells could be drawn from the patient being treated,eliminating the problem of adding tissue the immune system mightattack, said Darwin Prockop, of Tulane University’s medical school,who co-authored the research.

Susan Howley, director of research at the Christopher ReeveParalysis Foundation, cautioned that many questions still surroundthe new technique.