Cloned cells tested in US

United States researchers have used cloned cells to treat a Parkinson-like disease in mice and say it provides a good experimental basis for testing whether so-called therapeutic cloning will work.

Although they did not clone each individual mouse, the cells they used were from cloned embryos and relieved the symptoms of artificially induced Parkinson's, they report in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Cloning is controversial but many scientists believe therapeutic cloning can revolutionise medicine. The idea is for a patient to provide a single cell that could be manipulated and grown into new tissue or even organs.

The researchers created symptoms of Parkinson's in six mice using chemicals to damage their brains, then transplanted the dopamine-producing cells into their brains.

The symptoms of the mice got better, the researchers reported. Usually mice with this brain damage walk in constant circles.