Stem Cell progress

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http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00048F8A-C91A-11FA-891A83414B7F0000

Just a little article about some positive news about stem cells and neurons:

Quote:

Scientists Switch Stem Cells into Neurons

Scientists have long been studying the process of how mammalian stem cells differentiate to form specific types of brain cells. Researchers are now reporting another small step toward understanding what conditions are necessary for spinal motor neurons to form: they have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to differentiate into one critical component of the nervous system.

Su-Chun Zhang of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his colleagues exposed human embryonic stem cells to a variety of growth factors and hormones in sequence in order to encourage them to change into motor neurons. "You need to teach the [embryonic stem cells] to change step by step, where each step has different conditions and a strict window of time," Zhang explains. "Otherwise, it just won't work." The embryonic stems cells first became neural stem cells then changed into the beginnings of motor neurons before finally differentiating into spinal motor neuron cells, the cell type that, in the human body, transmits messages from the brain to the spinal cord. The newly generated motor neurons exhibited electrical activity, the signature action of neurons, and survived in culture for more than three months.

Promising news for quadrapeligics everywhere!!! Now if we can figure out how to make non-embryonic cells do this.... as I've said before, you have to crawl in science before you can walk; it's nice to see some real results from this contraversial research.

Cycloptichorn

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Stem-cell research is some of the most promising research there is. Every advancement is needed.

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It's just nice to see this long-held goal finally getting closer to completion.

Cycloptichorn

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Cycloptichorn wrote:

It's just nice to see this long-held goal finally getting closer to completion.

Cycloptichorn

Agreed on all fronts. It will be interesting to see how far we can get with this research.

I love science regardless of what some seem to think on this board. Science is my best hope of living to be 100! Very Happy

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100? Hell, 150 is my goal.

Cycloptichorn

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While that would be nice, I don't see any positive outcome from prolonged life. I think society would become stagnate with to many old guards on hand. It doesn't strike me that progress can be made in society with many of the same people in power due to extended life.

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At least it's nice that we're all in agreement that stem cell research needs to be well funded and allowed to flourish without the religious right attempting to block it at every turn.

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McG had some very interesting comments on the Stem Cell Research: Redux thread on using adult stem cells, or umbilical stem cells, in lieu of embryonic ones.

Though embryonic cells are pluripotent (we think they can change into any cell), adult stem cells are at least multipotent, and the ability to produce the same results with adult cells would not only be a major breakthrough, it would neatly side-step the issue.

Cheers!

Cycloptichorn

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Well, as the current strings of stem cells Bush is allowing to be utilized have now been shown to be contaminated, it would certainly help if we could use adult stem cells.

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Cycloptichorn wrote:

McG had some very interesting comments on the Stem Cell Research: Redux thread on using adult stem cells, or umbilical stem cells, in lieu of embryonic ones.

Though embryonic cells are pluripotent (we think they can change into any cell), adult stem cells are at least multipotent, and the ability to produce the same results with adult cells would not only be a major breakthrough, it would neatly side-step the issue.

Cheers!

Cycloptichorn

I agree with you on that one. While I don't see the need to destroy babies to do the research, I fully support all other forms of stem cell research and look forward to the benefits.

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baldimo wrote

Quote:

While that would be nice, I don't see any positive outcome from prolonged life. I think society would become stagnate with to many old guards on hand. It doesn't strike me that progress can be made in society with many of the same people in power due to extended life.

In Italian there is a saying [don't know the spelling }centana. Meaning you should live 100 years. However, would you tell that to a 99 year old. That is what the baldimos post reminded me of. Youth ah youth

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Were it up to the Pastor in the White House and the Pope in Rome there would be no advancements in fetal stem cell research.

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Dookiestix wrote:

Well, as the current strings of stem cells Bush is allowing to be utilized have now been shown to be contaminated, it would certainly help if we could use adult stem cells.

Not surprising. Do you know what it takes to grow ES cells for research purposes?

If I remember my stem cell growing days (I was working on mouse ES cells!) it takes a layer of feeder cells to give them nutrients, feeder cells that are not of the same species.

I myself never used feeder cells but did use embryonic stem cell quality fetal bovine serum (which I think all stem cells need), which is basically serum taken from fetal cows. The proteins in that serum is so blatantly going to end up inside the cells and you're going to get contamination.

Cycloptihorn wrote:

Though embryonic cells are pluripotent (we think they can change into any cell), adult stem cells are at least multipotent, and the ability to produce the same results with adult cells would not only be a major breakthrough, it would neatly side-step the issue.

We don't think ES cells are pluripotent. We know they are pluripotent. Unfortunately, you're wrong in saying they can turn into any cell. They cannot turn into trophoblast cells, but that's okay, seeing as trophoblast cells only serve to attach a fertilised ovum to the uterine wall.

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Wolf - given your experience, can you answer a question for me? Why not just use umbilical stem cells - they are pluripotent, aren't they? Wouldn't that eliminate the controversy?

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There wouldn't be any controversy if the religious community had more compassion for the pain and suffering of the living than those who are never destined to be born. I guess religion is not concerned with compassion only rigid and religious dogma

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Wolf:

Thanx so much for the quick science lesson. I would also concur with au1929, as the political and religious overtones regarding all of this is quite obvious.

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Au, we already know you are religiously anti-religion, but thanks for at least maintaining consistency in your myopic vision of the topic.

The question is, would umbilical cord and/or placental cells provide the necessary pluripotent material for stem cell research. These materials, at least, should be plentiful - babies are born every day.

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Idaho
Only against the perfidity of the religious.

Every avenue should be explored. None should be excluded.

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http://www.cordblood.com/cord_blood_news/stem_cell_news/a_medical_miracle.asp

An interesting news piece involving the umbilical cells you are asking about Idaho.

As far as I know, Umbilical cells currently fall somewhere in the middle. I'll look for more information for you, Idaho.

Wolf,
Thanks for clearing that up!

Cycloptichorn

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Thanks - I haven't been having much luck. Not a lot of time today.

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Stem Cell progress

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