Brain Stem Cells Discovered

January 11, 1999

January 11, 1999

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- A team of Swedish researchers have discovered the

site in the human brain that is the source of stem cells, those cells that can

give rise to all types of cells in the central nervous system.

Because such cells are self-renewing and give rise to a variety of cells,

including nerve cells, they may have the potential to be used for treating

neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, or even spinal cord injury.

The findings are published in the January 8th issue of the journal Cell.

While stem cells are found in other tissues that continually produce new

cells, such as the skin and bone marrow, it was thought until recently that

the adult brain did not have the ability to generate new nerve cells -- much

less contain stem cells that could give rise to a variety of brain cell types.

" Although there is much research that needs to be conducted before

neurological stem cell therapy may reach the clinic, the identification of the

stem cell in the adult brain and spinal cord is a significant leap that will

facilitate the development of this field, " said Dr. Ann Marie Janson, in a

statement issued by NeuroNova, a Swedish scientific company that plans to

develop stem cell-based therapies.

Janson founded the company with Dr. Jonas Frisen, the senior investigator on

the new study. Frisen and co-authors are researchers at the Karolinska

Institute in Stockholm.

Frisen and colleagues discovered that a type of cell known as the ependymal

cells are the long-searched for stem cells. Ependymal line the ventricles,

the fluid-filled cavities of the brain.

The ependymal cells " give rise to a rapidly proliferating cell type that

generated neuron that migrate to the olfactory bulb, " the authors write.

After a spinal cord injury, the ependymal cells respond by rapidly producing a

type of cell known as an astrocyte that participate in scar formation.

" A stem cell is capable of generating new cells and plays a key role in tissue

healing in most organs of the body, " Frisen said. " However, the adult brain

was long thought to be an exception. "

SOURCE: Cell 1999;96:25-34.

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