Breakthrough key to rebuilding brains

Scientists have grown fully mature brain cells in a laboratory for the first time, using a technique that mimics the natural process of brain regeneration.

It promises to open the door to new ways of treating and possibly curing debilitating brain diseases such as Parkinson's, epilepsy and Alzheimer's.

The scientists said they were able to produce virtually unlimited quantities of brain cells, which could revolutionise transplant medicine as well as lead to new drugs to stimulate the regrowth of damaged nerves.

Bjorn Scheffler, a neuroscientist at Florida University who made the breakthrough, said the procedure involved mimicking the natural process through which key stem cells in the brain orchestrate partial regeneration of the brain.

"Our study shows for the first time the entire process that goes on in our brain for life. We can, in a dish, recapture the process in front of our eyes."

It was not the first time that scientists had shown stem cells could be manipulated in the lab to produce mature brain cells, Dr Scheffler added.

"But nobody has been capable of replicating the process from the very first step to the very last step - it's unique to get the whole process happening before your eyes."

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was done with mice but the scientists believe it is only a matter of time before they are able to reproduce the process with human brain cells.

Dr Scheffler said the findings effectively showed it was possible to construct an assembly line for manufacturing unlimited quantities of human brain cells, or neurons.

"We can basically take these cells and freeze them until we need them. Then we thaw them, begin a cell-generating process and produce a ton of new neurons."

Professor Dennis Steindler, who led the Florida research team, said the strength of the technique lay in its ability to identify vital stem cells that have the power to grow into adult brain cells.

"We've isolated for the first time what appears to be the true candidate stem cell," Professor Steindler said.

Time-lapse images taken by the scientists show how simple, immature stem cells gradually develop and grow into the fully functioning cell - vital to the healthy functioning of the brain.

"Now we can make a lot of brain cells from just a very small number of these stem cells, which is great because we'd have to do that to repair neurological disease," Professor Steindler said.

Another possibility is to use the technique as a model of natural brain repair so scientists can test potential drugs for stimulating the regrowth of damaged nerves.

"We are already beginning the process of screening for compounds that will allow this to happen perhaps without sticking anything into our brains," Professor Steindler said.

"It's been the goal of this field of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine to get us closer to being able to pop a pill in your mouth when you have a neurological disorder that has a specific action on your own indigenous stem cell population.

"The home run is that we will find drugs to mobilise our own population [of brain stem cells], which is what this study is focusing on.

"I'm quite optimistic we will translate this to human therapeutics in the very near future," he added.

"Because advances in the field of regenerative medicine are occurring so quickly, it could be any time.

"It could be next week, it could be 10 years. I'd like it to be next week."

Q&A

Q: Why is this a breakthrough?
A: Scientists think they have found the stem cell which grows into a mature brain cell. Once they can identify this cell, they can manipulate it to grow almost unlimited quantities of brain cells.

Q: What could it be used for?
A: Transplant surgery to replace a damaged heart or brain. Or a new drug could copy the technique to repair damaged cells.

- INDEPENDENT