HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
Healing the brain from the inside out

Researchers find existing brain cells -- not transplants -- may replenish dead counterparts

Boston, MA -- June 22, 2000 -- Healing a human brain from the inside out was supposed to be impossible. The evolutionary choice for mammals was believed to be between a brain that was fixable and a brain that was too complex to tinker with after it was formed, especially from the inside. Now comes the discovery from a Children's Hospital research group, published today in the journal Nature, that our brain's nerve cells or neurons could one day be induced into healing themselves.

The paper from Jeffrey Macklis, Harvard Medical School associate professor of neurology at Children's Hospital, and his associates Sanjay Magavi and Blair Leavitt, flies in the face of a century of neuroscience conviction that in mammals the brain and particularly the cerebral cortex is incapable of healing itselfa dogma that a series of recent experiments has shaken.

"Somewhere during evolution it was believed," Macklis says, "our brain, unlike the brains of other lower vertebrates, decided it would no longer do self-repair. The assumption has been that because we as mammals build a very complex brain, we don't want to mess around with it. We know now that this view isn't correct."

The Macklis group was able to induce stem cells deep in the cerebral cortex of adult mice to replace damaged neurons. These new neurons grew from already present immature precursor cells into fully formed, connected, and mature replacements. These home grown neurons demonstrate for the first time that the brain can heal itself from the inside out, without transplantation.

This breakthrough in fundamental neural cell biology is a long way from clinical application but Macklis says that if the mechanisms at work here can be understood and controlled, it may open a new avenue someday for treatment of degenerative brain diseases and central nervous system injuries.

Until recently
'"/>

Contact: John Lacey
john_lacey@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0441
Harvard Medical School
20-Jun-2000


Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Healing power in a gene
2. Healing the waters: a holistic native American Indian approach
3. Healing the waters: A holistic Native American Indian approach
4. UCSF Researchers Identify Key Genes In Bone Healing Process That Could Lead To New, Molecular-Based Treatments
5. Growth Factors Improve Muscle Healing In Animals
6. Improved Oxygen Bath To Heal Wounds, Lessen Number Of Amputations: Sandia To Sign Agreement With Numotech To Help Create Home-Use Healing Facility
7. Engineering Our Arteries: Replacements And Assisted Healing
8. Trial shows which brain cancer patients benefit from temozolomide
9. Targeted therapy knocks out pediatric brain cancer in mice
10. New way to protect brain from stroke damage
11. Chemical signals health of brain cells Symposium

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Healing the brain from the inside out

(Date:5/22/2013)... also conclude that the 20 percent reduction in ... versus chest X-ray (CXR) screening previously reported in ... screening centers in the United States. , Philadelphia, ... patients about the benefits and risks of LDCT ... New England Journal of Medicine of ...
(Date:5/22/2013)... major new effort to educate the public and decision ... clean water that looms ahead in the 21st century. ... current edition of Chemical & Engineering News , ... the world,s largest scientific society. , Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, ... Ph.D., explain that shortages of reliable supplies of fresh ...
(Date:5/22/2013)... health effects from disposal of millions of rechargeable ... recommend stronger government policies to encourage recovery, recycling ... the conclusion of a new paper in the ... , Oladele A. Ogunseitan and colleagues point out ... everything from smart phones to components in new ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):NLST: CT detects twice as many lung cancers as X-ray at initial screening exam 2NLST: CT detects twice as many lung cancers as X-ray at initial screening exam 3
(Date:5/23/2013)... Can economic incentives such as gift cards, ... the public to increase their donations of blood? , ... Business School Assistant Professor Mario Macis says the ... body of recent research that supports their argument, the ... of Science that the World Health Organization and national ...
(Date:5/23/2013)... Patheon Inc ., a leading ... global pharmaceutical industry, will host a complimentary webinar on ... on Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at 11 a.m. Eastern ... to comply with regulations for cleaning validation. Many ... underpinning and little evaluation of risk. Some companies ...
(Date:5/23/2013)...  Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) and StemCyte, Inc., ... banking and therapeutics, announced today that StemCyte has become ... Indy car driven by James Jakes ... IndyCar 2013 season.   StemCyte, Inc. and Rahal ... of umbilical cord blood banking and its educational initiative ...
(Date:5/23/2013)... Auburn, MA (PRWEB) May 23, 2013 ... one inch wide and provide 15 mm travel ... nanometers. The small dimensions make these new ... in confined spaces. A vacuum rated version is ... Datasheet:, Drawings, specifications and datasheets can be found ...
Breaking Biology Technology:Offering Economic Incentives to Attract Blood Donations Should Be Encouraged, Research Team writes in Science 2Offering Economic Incentives to Attract Blood Donations Should Be Encouraged, Research Team writes in Science 3Patheon to Present on “Cleaning Validation: Science, Risk and Novel Approaches to Testing” 2StemCyte, Inc. Joins Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing As Associate Sponsor Of No. 16 IndyCar Program For James Jakes Beginning With The 97th Indianapolis 500 2StemCyte, Inc. Joins Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing As Associate Sponsor Of No. 16 IndyCar Program For James Jakes Beginning With The 97th Indianapolis 500 3Precision Positioning System Uses Miniaturezed Piezo Linear Motor: LPS-24 Linear Stage by PI 2
Cached News: