Researchers produce brain tissue from a few scratches

Researchers produce brain tissue from a few scratches

Richard Gray, London

February 13, 2012



http://images.smh.com.au/2012/02/12/...arch-420x0.jpg British researchers have generated brain cells from human skin. Photo: Nicolas Walker

SCIENTISTS are claiming a major breakthrough after generating brain tissue from human skin.
British researchers have for the first time generated a crucial type of brain cells in the laboratory by reprogramming skin cells. They say it could speed up the hunt for new treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and stroke. Until now it has only been possible to generate tissue from the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain where most major neurological diseases occur, by using controversial embryonic stem cells, obtained by the destruction of an embryo.
This has meant the supply of brain tissue available for research has been limited due to ethical concerns and limited availability.
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Scientists at the University of Cambridge say they have overcome this problem, showing for the first time that it is possible to reprogram adult human skin cells so they develop into neurons found in the cerebral cortex.
Initially, brain cells grown in this way could be used to help researchers gain a better understanding of how the brain develops and what goes wrong when it is affected by disease. They could also be used for screening new drug treatments.
Eventually, scientists hope the cells could be used to provide healthy tissue that can be implanted into patients to treat neurodegenerative diseases and brain damage.
Dr Rick Livesey, who led the research at the university's Gurdon Institute, said: ''The cerebral cortex makes up 75 per cent of the human brain. It is where all the important processes that make us human take place. It is, however, also the major place where disease can occur.
''We have been able to take reprogrammed skin cells so they develop into brain stem cells and then essentially replay brain development in the laboratory.
''We can study brain development and what goes wrong when it is affected by disease in a way we haven't been able to before. We see it as a major breakthrough in what will now be possible.''
Dr Livesey and his colleagues were able to create the two major types of neuron that form the cerebral cortex from reprogrammed skin cells and show that they were identical to those created from the more controversial embryonic stem cells.
The findings are published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
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Scientists create brain cells from human skin in possible breakthrough for autism, Alzheimer's research

Scientists have generated brain tissue from human skin, possibly speeding up the hunt for new treatments for conditions such as epilepsy and autism, and diseases including Alzheimer’s.





News DeskFebruary 13, 2012 05:22
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http://www.globalpost.com/sites/defa...au_protein.jpg A woman, suffering from Alzheimer's desease, holds the hand of a relative on March 18, 2011 in a retirement house in Angervilliers, eastern France. (Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images)

Scientists who have generated brain tissue from human skin are claiming a major breakthrough.
The researchers wrote on the University of Cambridge website that their findings could speed up the hunt for new treatments for diseases of the cerebral cortex, such as epilepsy and autism, to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
"Today’s findings will enable scientists to study how the human cerebral cortex develops, how it ‘wires up’ and how that can go wrong (a common problem leading to learning disabilities)," they wrote.
Their findings were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Created cerebral cortex cells – those that make up the brain’s grey matter -- will allow them to "recreate brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, in the lab," they wrote, providing "previously impossible insight."
It may also allow them to develop and test new drugs to stop the diseases progressing.
Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported that until now, it has only been possible to generate tissue from the cerebral cortex by using controversial embryonic stem cells, obtained by the destruction of an embryo.
Such research threw up ethical concerns, which in turn led to limited availability of funding and materials.
The paper quoted Dr Rick Livesey, who led the research at the university's Gurdon Institute, as saying:
''The cerebral cortex makes up 75 percent of the human brain. It is where all the important processes that make us human take place. It is, however, also the major place where disease can occur.
''We have been able to take reprogrammed skin cells so they develop into brain stem cells and then essentially replay brain development in the laboratory.
''We can study brain development and what goes wrong when it is affected by disease in a way we haven't been able to before. We see it as a major breakthrough in what will now be possible.''