Brain tissue source of 'master' cells

LONDON - Transplants using the brain tissue of dead people could become reality after pioneering work has shown it is possible to grow nerve cells extracted from human corpses.

Medical researchers have taken living cells from the brains of dead people in an attempt to discover a new source of valuable stem cells, the "master" cells that can develop into the many specialised tissues of the body.

Using post-mortem samples from 23 children and adults, the scientists found they could grow at least three types of brain cell in a test tube for possible transplant operations on people with degenerative neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease.

The scientists used specific growth factors known to sustain and stimulate isolated cells growing in a test tube.

The research, published in the journal Nature, was done by a team led by Fred Gage, of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California.

"I find it remarkable that we all have pockets of cells in our brains that can grow and differentiate throughout our lives and even after death," Professor Gage said.



The time after death when the cells were extracted varied from two hours to 20 hours.

Three types of brain cell could be grown by the technique: neurons, which transmit messages in the form of electrical signals; astrocytes, which nourish and protect neurons; and oligodendrocytes, which insulate the nerve cells by wrapping them in a fatty sheath of myelin, a process disrupted in patients with multiple sclerosis.



So far the work had concentrated on extracting brain tissue from people with neurological diseases but it might be more instructive to use post-mortem samples from individuals who were otherwise healthy, the scientists said.

"Cells recovered from healthy individuals could provide a model for understanding how to stimulate and guide the normal processes of brain cell growth and differentiation," Professor Gage said.

- INDEPENDENT