The recent 28th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience brought news of potential uses of human and porcine neural cells.
CytoTherapeutics of Lincoln, Rhode Island, presented four abstracts based on the use of neural stem/progenitor cell cultures to repair or replace central nervous system cells, including in the brain, the eye, and spinal cord. The abstracts describe the use of neural stem cell technology to isolate and differentiate human neural stem cells in vitro; maintain and exponentially expand human neural stem cells in vitro; and successfully engraft, migrate, and differentiate human neural stem cells into the appropriate neuronal phenotypes in an animal model, the company said.
Diacrin of Charlestown, Massachusetts, presented three studies showing the ability of porcine neural cells to survive long-term in the spinal cords of rats. "The results from these preliminary studies suggest that fetal porcine neurons may be appropriate for repopulation of lost neurons in human spinal neuropathological diseases," Diacrin reported.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals of New Haven, Connecticut, presented an abstract on novel approaches to the transplantation of pig brain cells into humans for the treatment of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's diseases. Data showed that brain function was restored following the first xenotransplantation of transgenic pig nerve cells in an animal model of Parkinson's disease. In a poster, Alexion reported on the transplantation of pig cells for the treatment of spinal cord injury. Investigators found that transgenic pig cells formed a sheath around damaged neurons in animals whose spinal cords were surgically severed and that the spinal cords that had received the pig cell transplants showed restoration of normal nerve signal conduction.
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