Human stem cells aid stroke recove...(ature into stable neural stem cells. Aft...),Health

Convinced that the cells appeared safe, Daadi and co-author Anne-Lise Maag, a former Stanford medical student, transplanted those cells into the brains of 10 rats with an induced form of stroke. At the end of two months, the cells had migrated to the damaged brain region and incorporated into the surrounding tissue. None of those transplanted cells formed tumors.

Once in place, the replacement cells helped repair damage from the induced stroke. The researchers mimicked a stroke in a region of the brain that left one forelimb weak. This model parallels the kinds of difficulties people experience after a stroke.

Testing at four weeks and again at eight weeks after the stem cell transplants showed the animals were able to use their forelimbs more normally than rats with similarly damaged brain regions that had not received the transplants.

The great thing about these cells is that they are in unlimited supply and are very versatile, Daadi said. The neural cells the group generated grew indefinitely in the lab and could be an ongoing source of cells for treating stroke or other injuries, he added.

In previous studies, Steinberg and others have implanted cells from cord blood, bone marrow, fetal and adult brain tissue or derived from mouse embryonic stem cells into stroke-damaged rats, but none of those cell types appear as promising as the cells in this study, the researchers said. Those cells are not as easy to produce in large scale for the appropriate quality assurance program to meet a sufficient patient population for multi-center clinical trials.

Before researchers can begin testing these neural cells in human stroke patients, Steinberg and Daadi said they need to verify that the cells are effective in
'/>"/>