Functional Neurons Created From Adult Somatic Cells 147
mmmscience writes "Researchers at UCLA have accomplished a task that has long vexed stem cell researchers: They've created the first electronically active neurons from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. This is a great leap forward for stem cell researchers, who can apply these neurons to the study of neurodegenerative diseases."
Electronically? (Score:5, Informative)
I know it's a direct quote from TFA, but, dear God, I hope they mean "electrically active". Unless UCLA is now working for Cyberdyne...
The abstract and link to the paper... (Score:3, Informative)
"Directed differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells generates active motor neurons"
S Karumbayaram, BG Novitch, M Patterson, JA Umbach, L Richter, A Lindgren, AE Conway, AT Clark, SA Goldman, K Plath, M Wiedau-Pazos, HI Kornblum, WE Lowry
"The potential for directed differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to functional post-mitotic neuronal phenotypes is unknown. Following methods shown to be effective at generating motor neurons from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), we found that once specified to a neural lineage, human iPS cells could be differentiated to form motor neurons with a similar efficiency as hESCs. Human iPS-derived cells appeared to follow a normal developmental progression associated with motor neuron formation and possessed prototypical electrophysiological properties. This is the first demonstration that human iPS-derived cells are able to generate electrically active motor neurons. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using iPS-derived motor neuron progenitors and motor neurons in regenerative medicine applications and in vitro modeling of motor neuron diseases."
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Randy
Re:How long was I in there? (Score:5, Informative)
Why aren't we Funding this?!
Sorry for the flame, But wow, it turns out you don't need to run the pissing matches with the pro life activists to get things done.
We ARE funding this. This is the type of research that was funded under our previous president. The only thing that was not funded was embryonic stem cell research from NEW lines. Stem cell research from then existing lines of embryonic stem cells was funded.
Unfortunately, your are not the only one who is not aware of this. Since it was so popular to bash Bush, the common thought was that Bush banned all stem cell research. This is absolutely NOT true. Bush banned nothing! What Bush did by executive order dealt with federal funding only, and even then the only restriction was that it not fund research based on NEW stem cell lines from "discarded" embryos.
Re:In preparation for the inevitable comments (Score:5, Informative)
Pretty soon the people not in favor of using embryonic stem research will likely join this thread and start talking about how we can just use adult cells and how that means we should never do any research on embryonic stem cells. However, this research, like most research involving adult stem cells, relied on prior work with embryonic stem cells. This sort of research is only doable because of embryonic stem cell research.
Then it's a good thing President Bush funded such research. From HERE [nih.gov]:
Federal Policy
President Bush's Criteria
On August 9th, 2001, Former President George W. Bush announced that federal funds may be awarded for research using human embryonic stem cells if the following criteria are met:
* The derivation process (which begins with the destruction of the embryo) was initiated prior to 9:00 P.M. EDT on August 9, 2001.
* The stem cells must have been derived from an embryo that was created for reproductive purposes and was no longer needed.
* Informed consent must have been obtained for the donation of the embryo and that donation must not have involved financial inducements.
NIH's Role
The NIH, as the Federal government's leading biomedical research organization, is implementing Former President Bush's policy. The NIH funds research scientists to conduct research on existing human embryonic stem cells and to explore the enormous promise of these unique cells, including their potential to produce breakthrough therapies and cures.
Investigators from 14 laboratories in the United States, India, Israel, Singapore, Sweden, and South Korea have derived stem cells from 71 individual, genetically diverse blastocysts. These derivations meet Former President Bush's criteria for use in federally funded human embryonic stem cell research. The NIH has consulted with each of the investigators who have derived these cells. These scientists are working with the NIH and the research community to establish a research infrastructure to ensure the successful handling and the use of these cells in the laboratory.
Simple Breakdown of Adult and Embryonic Considerat (Score:2, Informative)
Re:In preparation for the inevitable comments (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, thereby forcing anyone with federal funding of any sort that wanted to research on lines that weren't already in place by 2001 to create entirely separate laboratories to work with these new lines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24conv.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 [nytimes.com]
Gosh, I sure am glad that he supported stem cell research.
Re:Replacing motor neurons ain't so easy... (Score:2, Informative)
If it's a pipe dream, then why do so many researchers and physicians regard iPSCs as a holy grail? Probably it's because stem cell therapy has *already* repaired damaged tissue and restored function to a variety of tissues in mammals and humans, including the spinal cord.
In case your tragic state of perplexity becomes too much to live with:
Stem Cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell [wikipedia.org]
Stem Cell Basics
http://dels.nas.edu/bls/stemcells/booklet.shtml [nas.edu]
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_Pluripotent_Stem_Cell [wikipedia.org]
Video: What Are Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8370692532177471184&hl=en [google.com]
Stem Cell Therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_therapy [wikipedia.org]
Randy
Re:Adult Stem Cells FTW ! (Score:1, Informative)
Hi, weird enough I just listened to a professor from the Indiana University named Sam Rhine talk about this very thing today for 4 hours. What he said was iPS cells have the same risks as embryonic stem cells. The only difference is, in the last 6 months, (I don't remember exactly when) researchers have turned the stem cells green with fluorescent markers.
Previously, the stem cells caused nasty tumors because maybe 2% of the stem cells never differentiated and caused tumors once they entered the body. Now, with the green markers, researchers are able to pick out all the green cells at the end, because the differentiated cells are normal. The end product is 100% differentiated cells, with extremely minimal chance of causing a tumor.
To sum it up, the tumors could be caused by both embryonic stem and iPS cells, but it's the fluorescent markers that actually prevent the tumors now. Hope I helped you out in some way, my first time ever posting on slashdot, long time reader though.
(High School Senior)
Re:How long was I in there? (Score:3, Informative)
The existing lines that Bush approved were all contaminated, and thus mostly useless.
That said, this article is about *adult* stem cell research, which Bush never blocked.