Thursday, February 02, 2012

Scientists Create Brain Cells with Skin Samples


Edinburgh: Sixteen years after Dolly the sheep cloned in Edinburgh, Scottish scientists have made another startling medical breakthrough. Researchers at Edinburgh Centre for Regenerative Medicine, as quoted by page News.com.au, Monday (30 / 1), has created the brain tissue of patients suffering from mental illness, like schizophrenia and depression.

"The neurons of a patient can tell us much about the psychological conditions that affect them, but you can not stick a needle in someone's brain and take the cells," said center director, Professor Charles French-Constant, in the Guardian.

"However, we have found a way round. We can take a skin sample to create stem cells from it and then directing stem cells to grow into brain cells," continued Charles. "In essence, we will return the person's skin cells into the brain.

The scientists hope that by studying the network of brain cells, will provide clues to the mentally ill patient's condition. Tasks that have been challenged in the past.

"It is very difficult to get a primary network to learn until after the patient dies," said dotker Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Professor Andrew McIntosh, who collaborated with the center on the project.

In fact, the network is affected by whatever killed them and the impact of using drugs to cure them, perhaps for decades. "So, have access to the living brain cells is a significant development for the development of drugs for this condition," said McIntosh.

If successful, researchers are convinced that the same method can be applied to other organs, including liver and heart. (Bog)

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