Stem Cells Hint at Promise for Inborn Brain Diseases
        

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            072701Stem Cells Hint at Promise for Inborn Brain Diseases
            By NICHOLAS WADE

            n further testimony to the medical promise of stem cells, biologists 
            have found that human neural stem cells can become incorporated in a 
            fetal monkey's brain and share in its development, suggesting a 
            novel way of correcting inborn brain diseases.
            The human stem cells were injected into the brains of monkeys in the 
            womb, and helped not only to construct the monkeys' brains but also 
            to form the reservoir of stem cells from which new brain cells are 
            generated throughout adult life.
            The experiment, being published electronically by Science magazine 
            today, was performed by Dr. Evan Y. Snyder, an expert on brain stem 
            cells at Harvard Medical School; Dr. Curt R. Freed of the University 
            of Colorado, a researcher who uses fetal brain cells to treat 
            Parkinson's disease; and their colleagues.
            The stem cells used in the work were not embryonic stem cells, which 
            are derived from surplus human embryos and are the subject of a 
            debate over federal research financing. Rather, they came from the 
            brain of a 15-week-old aborted fetus. Though research with fetal 
            tissue has been controversial, it was permitted by the Clinton 
            administration under strict guidelines, and the Bush administration 
            has shown no signs of reversing the policy.
            The brain's cache of stem cells, only recently discovered, lies in a 
            zone around the fluid-filled central cavities of the brain, which 
            are known as ventricles. Dr. Snyder established a culture of brain 
            stem cells from the fetus's ventricles. The cells grow and divide 
            prolifically in culture, a feature of stem cells.
            Using ultrasound to guide his needle, Dr. Freed injected doses of 
            these human cells into the brain ventricles of three monkeys in 
            their mothers' wombs. The cells migrated through the wall of the 
            ventricles. Some then joined the monkeys' own stem cells in building 
            the different layers of the developing brain. Others became 
            incorporated into the cache of stem cells around the ventricles, 
            ready for use in supplying and repairing the adult brain.
            Dr. Freed said the ease and simplicity of the operation would make 
            it a useful technique for any inborn brain disease that stem cells 
            might help in treating. 
            One set of diseases that would be candidates for stem cell treatment 
            are those that, like Tay-Sachs, strike in early life, caused by a 
            genetic defect in the production of chemicals needed by brain cells. 
            Another set are the brain diseases of later life like Parkinson's, 
            Huntington's, Alzheimer's and motoneuron disease. Researchers said 
            it was possible to envisage injecting stem cells into any fetus that 
            on the basis of genetic tests is likely to develop any of these 
            diseases. The healthy stem cells might then prevent the damage.
            Dr. Freed said much groundwork had to be laid before any clinical 
            studies could begin. For one thing, researchers must establish that 
            enough stem cells can be delivered to make a therapeutic difference. 
            The stem cells would then have to be tested in monkeys suffering 
            from the monkey equivalent of such diseases. 

             
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