Researcher Show Possibility of Neuron Transplantation

I recently had the opportunity to read an article entitled Transplantation of Embryonic Neurons Raises Hope for Treating Brain Diseases.This article described the results of an experiment conducted by researchers at UCSF who implanted embryonic interneuron cells into the brains of infant mice. The expected result was that most of these cells would fail to form a lasting hold in the brains of the mice however, the researchers found that there was a consistently high ratio of cells surviving in the mice. 

This is a very promising result because of the nature of the interneurons used. The cells used are GABAergic interneurons, which have been connected to diseases such as Parkinson’s schizophrenia, and epilepsy. During the developmental process these neurons have been shown to migrate. Many researchers believe that errors in this migratory process is a root cause of problems with GABA pathways in the cerbral cortex. This a problem because GABA has a major effect on excitatory and inhibitory processes of neurons. It is the hope of many scientists that this development may spur the advancement of treatments in which cell transplantation is used. These findings are also significant because they go against the long held neurotrophic hypothesis, which states that, because the brain can only support a finite number of neurons, as the brain develops it systematically removes excess neurons through competition and extrinsic signaling .

 Experiments such as this may shed more light on the nature of movement and elimination of brain cells during development and help scientists to better understand its connection to life threatening neurological diseases. I believe that this research is incredibly promising as it introduces extensive possibilities for the use of neural implantation in therapeutic procedures. The fact that these neurons are connected to so many major neurological disorders should place research like it at the top of the list for funding.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121012102117.htm

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11523.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11377916