Stem cells offer hope of Alzheimer's cure

Published on Thursday 8 November 2007 00:23

BRAIN diseases such as Alzheimer's and strokes could be treated by stem-cell therapy, a study suggests.

Scientists have used the technique to repair the damaged memory of mice - and believe it could work in humans.

Stem cells are the basic building-block cells that can grow and change into different types of tissue.

US researchers injected neural stem cells into the brains of mice and after three months they seemed to have matured and made the right connections to reverse the memory deficit.

The experiments provide the first evidence that stem cells could reverse cognitive damage lost through strokes, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The cells were implanted into an area of the mice's brains which controls memory and other aspects of thought and where cells are known to die in Alzheimer's patients.

Lead researcher Mathew Blurton-Jones, of California University, said in previous studies transplanted neural stem cells survived and integrated into brain circuitry.

He said: "We've now gone one stage further in showing once integrated these new neurons are able to reverse cognitive deficits associated with neuro-degeneration or neuronal loss."

In the study published in the Journal of Neuroscience and reported by New Scientist the researchers used genetically engineered mice that naturally develop brain lesions.

Dr Blurton-Jones and colleagues destroyed memory cells in an area of the brain called the hippocampus where neurons often die after injury.

He said: "This is one of the first reports that you can take a stem cell transplantation approach and restore memory.

"There is a lot of awareness stem cells might be useful in treating diseases that cause loss of motor function but this study shows they might benefit memory in stroke or traumatic brain injury - and potentially Alzheimer's disease."

To test the mice's memory place and object recognition tests were carried out.

They found mice with brain injuries that received the stem cells remembered their surroundings about 70 per cent of the time - the same as healthy mice.