Soon, stem cells to help repair brain damage
April 14th, 2010 - 3:21 pm ICT by ANILondon, April 14 (ANI): Stem cells could soon be used to repair human brain damage, say scientists in the UK.
By reactivating stem cells within the body that can grow on specially constructed ‘biological scaffolding’ inserted into the brain, it may soon be possible to repair damage to the brain, say the researchers.
Mike Modo, of the Institute of Psychiatry, in London, says the hope is that the brain could be regenerated in the same way that tissue can regrow in animals such as salamanders and fish where nerves are capable of repairing themselves in the same way the human body can repair skin or bone.
He said that medical scaffolds made of synthetically made biological materials inserted into the brain could provide the structural framework for naturally existing stem cells to repair damaged regions caused by strokes or trauma.
“If we have damage to the brain, we are trying to put biomaterials in there to provide a structure for these cells to attach and to start forming connections between each other and eventually, hopefully, to regenerate the tissue that has been lost,” the Independent quoted Modo as saying.
“Theoretically the hope is that these biomaterials can be guided to support these cells and that they can be engineered to secrete particular [growth] factors,” he added. (ANI)
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Tags: animals, april 14, biological materials, fish, growth factors, human body, human brain, institute of psychiatry, london, nerves, repair brain damage, salamanders, scaffolding, scaffolds, scientists, stem cells, strokes, trauma