Aged Neural Stems Cells Still in Running Order
A recent study of adult neural stem cells suggests a new route for research and development of treatments for neurodegenerative disease in elderly patients. Within the last 20 years neuroscientists have shown that new neurons are generated in the brain throughout the lifespan. This finding opened a new area of research aimed at understanding if adult neural stem cells can be used in therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. A challenge with this approach is that there are fewer neural stem cell in the aged brain and the loss of stem cells occurs at just the time when neurodegenerative diseases are most common. But a new study is providing important information that neural stem from an aged brain still have the capacity to mature into functional neurons. read more
Read the whole article on Scientific Blogging
More from Scientific Blogging
Related
- Most common brain cancer may start in neural stem cellsTue, 2 Jun 2009, 9:07:38 EDT
- Salk researchers reprogram adult stem cells in their natural environmentMon, 30 Jun 2008, 9:35:44 EDT
- Newborn neurons in the adult brain can settle in the wrong neighborhoodTue, 11 Nov 2008, 20:22:00 EST
- Transplanted human stem cells prolong survival in mouse model of rare brain diseaseThu, 3 Sep 2009, 13:38:30 EDT
- USC researchers identify key mechanism that regulates the development of stem cells into neuronsMon, 10 Nov 2008, 12:29:38 EST