Weekend Article: Neurons from stem cells in rats

I love the field of neurology. It fascinates me that these nerve cells throughout our body act as the medium by which all sensations are felt, all information is synthesized, and all activity in our body is directly impacted. It's very fascinating and it's always something I look for when I scour the web for science news.

In this particular article, it appears that, again, human stem cells are responsible for yet another marvel of modern neuroscience. Scientists at the University of San Diego School of Medicine used human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to produce thousands of axons in lab rats with spinal cord injuries (News-Medical.net, 2014).

According to the early online edition of the scientific journal Neuron, Paul Lu, PhD, reported that the human iPSC-derived axons "extended through the white matter of the injury sites, frequently penetrating adjacent gray matter to form synapses with rat neurons" (News-Medical.net, 2014).

The stem cells were derived from a healthy 86-year-old male patient.

What's further fascinating about this study are the larger implications it could have on the very notion that spinal cord injuries will necessarily mean permanent damage to the body. If, for example, we can prove that the mechanisms involved with the growth and extension of these axons can overcome any amount of damage to the spinal cord and further synapse with the host body, even with stem cells derived from fairly aged patients.

To caution the reader, however, senior author Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, states that we might have to wait to learn how to control the growth of axons before jumping to human trials.

The enormous outgrowth of axons to many regions of the spinal cord and even deeply into the brain raises questions of possible harmful side effects if axons are mistargeted. We also need to learn if the new connections formed by axons are stable over time, and if implanted human neural stem cells are maturing on a human time frame - months to years - or more rapidly. If maturity is reached on a human time frame, it could take months to years to observe functional benefits or problems in human clinical trials (News-medical.net, 2014).

Tuszynski believes the findings to be extraordinary, however, the research is much too limited yet to properly restore functional use of limbs to the body. "Ninety-five percent of human clinical trials fail. We are trying to do as much as we possibly can to identify the best way of translating neural stem cell therapies for spinal cord injury to patients. It's easy to forge ahead with incomplete information, but the risk of doing so is greater likelihood of another failed clinical trial" (News-Medical.net, 2014).

I will however be updating this blog in the future to see how this plays out. I would love for this to become an opportunity in my lifetime.

But we'll see!


News-Medical.net. (2014). Neurons derived from human iPSC and grafted into rats after spinal cord injury produce cells. News-Medical staff. Retrieved from http://www.news-medical.net/news/20140808/Neurons-derived-from-human-iPSC-and-grafted-into-rats-after-spinal-cord-injury-produce-cells.aspx.