Scientists hail nerve cells study results

SCIENTISTS have discovered a new way to generate human motor nerve cells in a development that will help research into motor neurone disease.

A team from the universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge and Cardiff has created a range of motor neurons - nerve cells that send messages from the brain and spine to other parts of the body - from human embryonic stem cells.

It is the first time that researchers have been able to generate a variety of human motor neurons, which differ in their make-up and display properties depending on where they are located in the spinal cord.

The research could help scientists better understand motor neurone disease and will enable them to create different types of motor neurons and study why some are more vulnerable to disease than others.