multipotent neural progenitors in adult brain

[spuriousmonkey]

http://dev.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/133/18/3671

Human brain tissue was extracted from living individuals undergoing surgery connected to epilepsy. Tissue slices were obtained from different areas of the brain and studied in a tissue culture system.

Different assays were used to determine the presence of progenitors. And they actually managed to isolate and expand astroglial cell lines from these epileptic temporal lobe resections. These cell lines showed characteristics progenitor cells.

summary

The isolation and expansion of human neural cell types has become increasingly relevant in restorative neurobiology. Although embryonic and fetal tissue are frequently envisaged as providing sufficiently primordial cells for such applications, the developmental plasticity of endogenous adult neural cells remains largely unclear. To examine the developmental potential of adult human brain cells, we applied conditions favoring the growth of neural stem cells to multiple cortical regions, resulting in the identification and selection of a population of adult human neural progenitors (AHNPs). These nestin+ progenitors may be derived from multiple forebrain regions, are maintainable in adherent conditions, co-express multiple glial and immature markers, and are highly expandable, allowing a single progenitor to theoretically form sufficient cells for 4x107 adult brains. AHNPs longitudinally maintain the ability to generate both glial and neuronal cell types in vivo and in vitro, and are amenable to genetic modification and transplantation. These findings suggest an unprecedented degree of inducible plasticity is retained by cells of the adult central nervous system.

As in compared to rodent brains.

Neuronizing AHNPs frequently display an `asteron' hybrid phenotype, similar to recent findings in cultured rodent neural cells (Laywell et al., 2005; Okano-Uchida et al., 2004). Whereas those studies report a neuron-to-glia transdifferentiation, the transition reported here represents a glia-to-neuron commitment, suggesting the isolation of conditions (Ronnett et al., 1990) that promote the phenotypic alteration of widely distributed endogenous AHNPs may be possible.

Interesting isn't it!

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Can you dumb that down into language for intelligent laymen?

 

[spuriousmonkey]

Nah...it was a joke. I purposely didn't dumb it down.

The basic message is that human brains differ from rodent brains in that they have more regenerative capability.

Ironically most of the research is done on mice of course. And all data is extrapolated to humans.

This is done in all areas of biological research.

 

[Roman]

Although embryonic and fetal tissue are frequently envisaged as providing sufficiently primordial cells for such applications, the developmental plasticity of endogenous adult neural cells remains largely unclear.

The basic message is that human brains differ from rodent brains in that they have more regenerative capability.

So brains could be a more promising source of regenerative tissue than once thought? That makes sense, if most of the study subjects thus far (mice) differ from people.

What sort of unforseen consequences would there be in regrowing body parts, brain tissue and stuff? Super cancer?