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Nerve Cells Created From Bone Marrow May be Useful for Spinal Cord Injuries & Parkinsons(source)

August 15, 2000

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It has been known for several years that a type of cell, called a stromal cell, found in human bone marrow gives rise to other cell types including muscle cells or cartilage cells. Now, scientists have shown that stromal cells can also be transformed into nerve cells. The finding has exciting possibilities for the treatment of diseases affecting the brain and spinal cord.

Researchers hope that one day a person with Parkinson's disease, for instance, could have their own stromal cells harvested, transformed into nerve cells in a laboratory, and used for treatment. This process would eliminate the current ethical debate regarding the use of fetal tissues to treat neurological diseases such as Parkinson's.

"Previous research showed that bone marrow cells from mice that were grown in the lab and injected back into the mice ended up in their brains," according to lead author Dr. Dale Woodbury, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "This research is what gave us the idea."

The new study findings are published in the August issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Research.

The investigators took bone marrow from rats, grew millions more cells in the lab and then added various chemicals, such as antioxidants and growth factors, to see if they could transform the stromal cells into nerve cells.

"The recipe of chemicals that we hit upon changed the stromal cells into cells that looked like nerve cells and that manufacture the same proteins that nerve cells make," Woodbury told Reuters Health in an interview.

He described the process as "incredibly rapid."

"You can see changes as quickly as one hour," Woodbury noted.

However, more research is needed because it is still unclear if these laboratory-produced nerve cells can actually function as nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

SOURCE: Journal of Neuroscience Research 2000;61:364-370.

Washington Post Article on this subject.