Neuroregeneration and reprogramming

[dignan]

Here are a couple of interesting articles, one on neuroregeneration by silencing growth inhibitors and the other about reprogramming adult cells into stem cells.


Silencing growth inhibitors could help recovery from brain injury
Silencing natural growth inhibitors may make it possible to regenerate nerves damaged by brain or spinal cord injury, finds a study from Children's Hospital Boston. In a mouse study published in the November 7 issue of Science, researchers temporarily silenced genes that prevent mature neurons from regenerating, and caused them to recover and re-grow vigorously after damage.

Because injured neurons cannot regenerate, there is currently no treatment for spinal cord or brain injury, says Zhigang He, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurology at Children's and senior author on the paper. Previous studies that looked at removing inhibitory molecules from the neurons' environment, including some from He's own lab, have found only modest effects on nerve recovery. But now He's team, in collaboration with Mustafa Sahin, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Children's, demonstrates that re-growth is primarily regulated from within the cells themselves.

for the rest of the article:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 110408.php


Scripps research scientists identify compounds for stem-cell production from adult cells
In the study, the scientists screened known drugs and identified small molecules that could replace conventional reprogramming genes, which can have dangerous side effects. This new process offers a new way to generate stem cells from fibroblasts, a general cell type that is abundant and easily accessible from various tissues, including skin.

The study was published in the November 6, 2008 edition (Volume 3, Issue 5) of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

"Our study shows for the first time that somatic or general cell types can be reprogrammed with only two genes and small molecules, and that these small molecules can replace one of the two most essential reprogramming genes," said Sheng Ding, a Scripps Research scientist and Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, who led the study with colleagues from Scripps Research and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Germany. "In this case, we replaced the Sox2 gene, which had previously always been regarded as absolutely essential for the reprogramming process."

The SOX2 gene encodes a transcription factor that plays a critical role in the regulation of embryonic stem cells.

for the rest of the article:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 110408.php