Studies on mice indicate that neural stem cells can be more successful in repairing damaged brain tissue than it was believed in the past, a finding that could bring about new methods of treatment for stroke and other brain trauma in humans.
Agence France Presse reported that the scientists from University of California, San Francisco, discovered that neural stem cells from the brain’s subventricular zone quickly repaired damaged cerebral tissue in newborn mice.
The findings of the research appear in the journal Cell.
"The results were astonishing," study team member Chay Kuo told AFP. "If we can understand how this happens, and determine that it occurs in human neural stem cells, we may have a chance to increase the effect and harness it for therapeutic uses."
It took only 6 weeks for neural stem cells to make repairs in newborn mice whose brains were deliberately damaged by the loss of particular proteins.
