[PaulCameron]

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/...na013000c.html

Research team regenerates brain tissue with powdered stem cell culture concentrate

Powdered stem cell culture concentrate, prepared by a research team at Nagoya University. (Mainichi)A research team at Nagoya University has succeeded in regenerating stroke-damaged brain tissue in rats using a powdered concentrate of a human stem cell culture.

As the experiment did not require any living stem cells to succeed, the results hold out the possibility of easy mass production on the scale of pharmaceuticals, bringing regenerative therapies to large numbers of patients at low cost.

The team, led my professor Minoru Ueda, created a stem cell culture using tissue extracted from human baby teeth. They then condensed the liquid down to a fine powder and dissolved it in saline, which was injected into the stroke-damaged brains of rats. The rats, which had not been able to walk because of the neural damage inflicted by the strokes, were on their feet again six days after treatment with the solution. Examination showed that the cells in the injured parts of the brain had regenerated, reducing the stroke-affected areas.

Furthermore, treatments with the solution administered not by direct neural injection but via the nose over a two-week period resulted in about a 66 percent reduction in the damaged area.

The team thinks that stem cells native to a subject's body will deliver the proteins contained in other stem cells to a damaged area of the brain, helping to regenerate the neural tissue. The team believes that despite not using any living cells, they obtained such successful results as the saline solution contained all these same proteins, negating the need for an actual stem cell transplant.

"These results turn the conventional wisdom in regenerative medicine on its head," said Ueda. "We didn't transplant actual stem cells, meaning the risk of rejection or of cancer are very small. We can have the treatment on-hand and ready for use, so I think it can do a lot to help victims of spinal cord injuries, or other such injuries requiring immediate attention. It can be produced much more cheaply than stem cells as well."

The results will be presented at a meeting of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine in Tokyo on March 1.

Click here for the original Japanese story

(Mainichi Japan) February 2, 2011