Scientists have developed a technique that allows them to create mature brain cells using stem cells from the skin samples of older human subjects. It is the first time that scientists have been able to grow old brain cells using stem cells. Being able to grow older brain cells will help scientists who are researching neurological conditions that occur in older people, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Senior author of the paper, Rusty Gage explains: “This lets us keep age-related signatures in the cells so that we can more easily study the effects of ageing on the brain.” The research was published in the October 8, 2015 issue of journal Cell Stem Cell.
Scientists normally have to rely on animal models to understand the biological affects of ageing. This is particularly true when it comes to organs like the brain, which cannot be sampled easily with human subjects.
Scientists have been increasingly turning to stem cells for research projects because they can isolate a specific type of human cell with a specific disease in a petri dish. Researchers simply harvest some skin cells from a test subject, then turn those cells into Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs). From there, researchers prompt the cells into becoming the kind of cell they wish to research.
For researching neurological conditions, scientists prompt the IPSCs into becoming brain cells. The difficultly with these particular neurological conditions is that they affect “old” cells. By using this new technique, researchers can grow old brain cells using stem cells and study them at a cellular level in a petri dish.
The new technique directly converts the skin cell to a neurone, bypassing the stem cell precursor state. It creates a cell called an induced neurone. The cells manage to retain their age when they are turned into an induced neurone, so a skin cell from an older person will create an older brain cell. That will help researchers understand the affect of ageing on the brain and neurological conditions that affect older people.
From: Researchers learn how to grow old brain cells using stem cell technology
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