other tech: Common brain cells may have stem-cell-like potential

They can coax mature human brain cells to produce large amounts of new brain cells in culture, with one cell theoretically able to begin a cycle of cell division that does not stop until the cells number about 10 to the 16th power.

“We can theoretically take a single brain cell out of a human being and – with just this one cell – generate enough brain cells to replace every cell of the donor’s brain and conceivably those of 50 million other people,” said Dennis Steindler, Ph.D., executive director of UF’s McKnight Brain Institute. “This is a completely new source of human brain cells that can potentially be used to fight Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and a host of other brain disorders. It would probably only take months to get enough material for a human transplant operation.”

The findings document for the first time the ability of common human brain cells to morph into different cell types, a previously unknown characteristic, and are the result of the research team’s long-term investigations of adult human stem cells and rodent embryonic stem cells.

In addition to using the cells in treatments to repair or replace damaged brain tissue, the ability to massively expand cell populations could prove useful in efforts to test the safety and efficacy of new drugs. It is also possible to genetically modify the cells to produce neurotrophins – substances that help brain tissue survive, researchers said.