Stem Cells May Be Able to Restore Damaged Memory
Part Two

By Liz Townsend

Editor’s note. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

          Researchers have found that neural stem cells transplanted into brain-injured mice restored the animals’ memory to the same levels as healthy mice. The transplanted brain cells “survive, migrate, differentiate and, most significantly, improve memory,” according to an October 31 report in the Journal of Neuroscience.

          “This is one of the first reports that you can take a stem cell transplantation approach and restore memory,” lead researcher Mathew Blurton-Jones told HealthDay News. “There is a lot of awareness that stem cells might be useful in treating diseases that cause loss of motor function, but this study shows that they might benefit memory in stroke or traumatic brain injury, and potentially Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study also found that the stem cells did not merely replace the damaged cells, but instead began to repair existing cells, according to HealthDay News.

          Blurton-Jones and his colleagues at the University of California, Irvine, compared the brain function of healthy mice to mice with damaged brain cells in the area called the hippocampus, where memory formation resides, according to HealthDay News.

          Non-injured mice remembered their surroundings 70% of the time, compared to only 40% recognition in the brain-injured mice. After the researchers injected 200,000 neural stem cells into the injured mice, their memory improved to healthy levels—70% recognition, HealthDay News reported. Brain-injured mice who did not receive stem cells did not improve at all.

          Much more work needs to be done before such an approach could be used in humans, but experts found this report to be very promising. “Putting in these stem cells could eventually help in age-related memory decline,” Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, told HealthDay News. “There is clearly therapeutic potential in humans, but there are a lot of hurdles to overcome.

          “This is another demonstration of the potential for neural stem cells in brain disorders.”   

Please send your comments to Dave Andrusko at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

Part One