Two More Patients HIV-Free After Bone Marrow Transplants – ABC News

Read the story on the first man to recover from HIV Positive with a stem cell transplant who is now symptom free for 5 years!
http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/man-appears-free-of-hiv-after-stem-cell-transplant-for-3-years/

And with these 2 more men now HIV free, perhaps the dream of an HIV Free Generation is one step closer to reality!

Two More Patients HIV-Free After Bone Marrow Transplants

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have discovered that, following bone marrow transplants, two men no longer have detectable HIV in their blood cells.

The finding is significant because it suggests that by giving these patients transplants while they were on anti-retroviral therapy, they may have been cured of the AIDS-causing virus.

“We expected HIV to vanish from the patients’ plasma, but it is surprising that we can’t find any traces of HIV in their cells,” said Dr. Timothy Henrich, one of the researchers studying the two men. “It suggests that under the cover of anti-retroviral therapy, the cells that repopulated the patient’s immune system appear to be protected from becoming re-infected with HIV.”…

Two More Patients HIV-Free After Bone Marrow Transplants – ABC News.

STEM CELLS, AUTISM and stuff

First a disclaimer.  I am a stem cell writer/author/advocate.  While you may think this means I have an agenda (I do, to help patients get better), I am very careful to site real data sources for my info.  My “opinions” are based on science.  [For example, I am uninterested in embryonic stem cells because they will not produce treatments for decades, they cause cysts and tumors and they require immunosuppressive drugs.]

Many of my sources are from my own blog so if you find this too self-referential or if you find any data lacking on a specific subject, please ask and I will tell you where I got my original data from.  Please feel free to comment on my blog.  It is an open forum on the benefits of adult stem cell treatments.  I welcome all intelligent and rational communication and my site is not monetized so I make no money if you go there, comment or otherwise.

Ok, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Let’s clear it up.

ADULT STEM CELLS or ASC –
https://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/stem-cells-for-newbies/

SOURCE/DERIVED FROM•comes from blood, umbilical cords, bone marrow, placenta fat tissue, muscle, nasal neurological, breast milk, menstruation, dental pulp, lungs, eyes, brain and many more
PURPOSE IN BODY•they are the body’s natural healing cells
OBSTACLES+SIDE EFFECTS•virtually zero side negative effects, many positive side effects
TREATMENT HISTORY•used in bone marrow transplants to treat cancer for 40 years, can currently treat 130+ diseases safely and effectively (CP, MS, Autism, Diabetes, CHF, PAD, etc)

For example, blood derived stem cells are a very valid source of stem cells and many treatment centers and clinical trials using blood derived stem cells for years with extremely positive results.  The first stem cell treatment center in the world generated significant therapeutic benefit for over 62% of their congestive heart failure patients.  These are called no option CHF patients because their only recourse is a heart transplant.  62% of “no option” CHF patients derived significant therapuetic benefit, sometimes doubling their Ejection Fractions (amount of blood pumped out by the heart).  But this is anecdotal, let’s talk data.

What data is their showing that stem cell treatments work?
Anecdotal and 10′s of thousands of patients treated aside…as of late 2009, according to the National Institutes of Health, there were and are ~2600 stem cell clinical trials around the world –
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/

Of those ~2600, there are ~2591 mentions of adult stem cells.
Of those ~2591, about half of them (~1300) are actual adult stem cell clinical trials.

Currently, as of today, there are 3,989 clinical trials under keyword search “stem cell” illustrating the safety and efficacy of utilizing stem cells to treat chronic and terminal diseases. Many are from reputable colleges and hospitals around the world, some in the US like Duke U., Northwestern, etc.

How about for Autism? (I apologize, my data has not kept current but as of late 2009)

https://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/stem-cells-for-autism/

and
https://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/potential-of-stem-cell-treatments-for-autism/

Please also look at the 29,500 scholarly papers submitted on “stem cell” plus “autism” minus embryonic.  These are up to date:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=autism&as_epq=stem+cell&as_oq=&as_eq=embryonic&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=1%2C39&as_vis=1

I hope this was informative. If I can be of any assistance on specific diseases or questions, please feel free to ask.

STEM CELLS – MAGIC OR SCIENCE?

 

A friend asked:

“I would like nothing more than to beleive adult stem cell working for different diseases, however I don’t. How can you take a sick cell and replant it and it becomes healthy.”

—————————————————————————

My answer:

HIGH TURNOVER RATE
This is not magic, it is biological fact. Let’s start with your body. “Just like us, cells grow old and die. When old cells die, new ones replace them. For example, a blood cell in our body lives for about 120 days. Another example is our skin cells. We shed our skin cells about every 35 days.” That’s the outer layer which is why tattoos fade over time and why tattoos go deep into the lower levels of skin.

I’M DYING! YES, WE ALL ARE…
So our cells are in a constant state of “getting older” or “getting sick” or moving towards “impaired function.” I’m dying says the soldier with the sucking chest wound. Yes, we all are, says his philosopher friend. And we are indeed. “He not busy being born is busy dying.” says Bob Dylan. Perhaps this is too philosophical but the point is this: our body and every one of the 5-50 trillion cells is either getting older and weaker and dying or is currently being born or repaired. It’s a dynamic entity, this shell we reside in and it is constantly changing.

GETTING DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS
If you have too many cells with impaired function, especially in a specific area, which are damaged, necrotic, not getting enough nutrients, minerals etc and are getting exposure to too many toxins, inflammation, infections, etc which it can not eliminate, then something will go wrong and you will get sick with the capital ‘S’ and it is time to call in the workers to fix you up.

BOB THE BUILDER HAS SOME COMPETITION
Stem cells are the body’s construction workers. They do both renovations and they do ground up construction. Renovations amount to taking dead tissue and cells – necrotic – and re-energizing them so they come back to life (no zombie jokes please). This can be seen in hundreds of heart studies and trials and thousands of congestive heart failure patients where necrotic heart tissue implanted with stem cells was found to be living and beating a few weeks later. Ground up construction is where they set up shop on a blank field and build something new. This can be seen when stem cells create mini bypasses where stents were implanted. They are actually smart enough to know the “stent area” is a dangerous heavy traffic area and even if the stent is working, they will create offramps and onramps around the stent or bypasses with capillaries. Pretty cool huh?

YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT
Not magic, just plain old science and if your body was able to produce enough stem cells to run to the heart, it could do it by itself. In fact, it is trying, desperately to do exactly that but the body in congestive heart failure is like a single mother with 6 kids, 3 jobs and 2 dogs standing on one foot and juggling chain saws. She just can’t do it all, she is stretched to the limits of her endurance, something has to give…and it does. So while your body is sending stem cells to the heart, and the feet and the pancreas, liver, kidney, brain, endocrine and lymphatic and circulatory system infrastructure, RIGHT NOW, to renovate and build new cells and tissues, it is not sending ENOUGH and the fact that our single mom smokes and lives near a factory and does other people’s laundries, exposing herself to multiple chemical toxins, doesn’t sleep much, can only afford McD’s and is highly stressed, etc etc just taxes her body all the more.

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
So YOU have stem cells in YOUR body RIGHT NOW which are running around, differentiating into different cell types and healing you. All the time. So while our bodies are in a constant state of degradation, our stem cells are constantly fighting that degradation.

WANT THE SCIENCE?
If you would like trials and studies to back this up there are about 2,600 at last count and I can refer you to some that address a specific condition.

 

Chicago Woman Cured of Sickle Cell Disease

Chicago Woman Cured of Sickle Cell Disease

Posted: June  18, 2012 by Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez

Chicagoan Ieshea Thomas is the first Midwest patient to receive a successful stem cell transplant to cure her sickle cell disease without chemotherapy in preparation for the transplant. University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System physicians performed the procedure using medication to suppress her immune system and one small dose of total body radiation right before the transplant.The transplant technique is relatively uncommon and is a much more tolerable treatment for patients with aggressive sickle cell disease who often have underlying organ disease and other complications, says Dr. Damiano Rondelli, professor of medicine at UIC, who performed Thomas’s transplant.

The procedure initially allows a patient’s own bone marrow to coexist with that of the donor. Since the patient’s bone marrow is not completely destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation prior to transplant, part of the immune defense survives, lessening the risk of infection. The goal is for the transplanted stem cells to gradually take over the bone marrow’s role to produce red blood cells — normal, healthy ones…

http://hospital.uillinois.edu/News/CHICAGO_WOMAN_CURED_OF_SICKLE_CELL_DISEASE.html

FDA APPROVES FIRST CORD BLOOD PRODUCT

Finally some good news!  I guess its true, even monkeys fall out of trees sometimes!

FDA APPROVES FIRST CORD BLOOD PRODUCT

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved HEMACORD, the first licensed hematopoietic progenitor cells-cord (HPC-C) cell therapy.

HEMACORD is indicated for use in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation procedures in patients with disorders affecting the hematopoietic (blood forming) system. For example, cord blood transplants have been used to treat patients with certain blood cancers and some inherited metabolic and immune system disorders.

“The use of cord blood hematopoietic progenitor cell therapy offers potentially life-saving treatment options for patients with these types of disorders,” said Karen Midthun, M.D., director, FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

HEMACORD contains hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) from human cord blood. Cord blood is one of three sources of HPCs used in transplants; the other two are bone marrow and peripheral blood..

Read more:
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm279575.htm
.

Court won’t reconsider bone marrow payments ruling

Previously, you could not compensate someone for a bone marrow donation – “donating bone marrow was classified the same as donating a kidney or any other organ, and payments were forbidden, punished by jail time.”

Now, bone marrow donation is so simple, it no longer resembles organ donation – “the process of donating bone marrow [is] nearly identical to giving blood plasma and doesn’t amount to an organ transplant.”

So, you can get paid for a bone marrow donation -“bone marrow donors [can] be paid for their donations like blood donors.”

Many believe this is a very positive move and will encourage more donations.

bone marrow is FULL of stem cells

Court won’t reconsider bone marrow payments ruling

The Associated Press

Posted: 6:48pm on Mar 27, 2012; Modified: 9:27pm on Mar 27, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Tuesday declined to reconsider a ruling that allows bone marrow donors to be paid for their donations like blood donors.

In December, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shook up the organ transplant community when it overturned the criminality of paying bone marrow donors. Previously, donating bone marrow was classified the same as donating a kidney or any other organ, and payments were forbidden, punished by jail time.

But the court said a technological breakthrough makes the process of donating bone marrow nearly identical to giving blood plasma and doesn’t amount to an organ transplant.

On Tuesday, the 9th Circuit declined the Obama administration’s request to reconsider the ruling. Several organizations and activisits in the organ-donation community have urged the administration to fight the ruling.

The administration now has 90 days to petition the U.S. Supreme Court.

Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller said the administration is reviewing its options.

The nonprofit patient advocacy group Institute for Justice called the original ruling a “major national shift in bone marrow donation policy” and said payments will encourage more donations.

SAN FRANCISCO: Court won’t reconsider bone marrow payments ruling | Health | Macon.com.

 

 

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Stem Cells Safe for Young Traumatic Brain Injury

A Phase 1 clinical trial studying the safety of using bone marrow stem cells to treat traumatic brain injuries in children is reported. The procedures look to be safe even after 6 months of being applied. The image is adapted from a public domain image

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Safe for Young Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

Saturday March 3rd 2012

A procedure involving stem cells taken from patients’ own bone marrow to treat traumatic brain injury in children is safe, according to the results of a Phase 1 clinical trial.

The trial included 10 children aged 5-14 with severe traumatic brain injuries. Within 48 hours of their injuries, the children received stem cells processed from their own bone marrow.

Six months following the procedures, the children are showing no signs of further damage caused by the use of the stem cells. Though this study only points out that the procedure is safe so far, all of the children from the study had significant improvements.

Stem cell research studies such as this one are producing more and more evidence that stem cell treatments can be safe and effective.

With very few effective treatments for brain injury patients, these studies provide great promise for the future of medicine.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston press release below offers more details about this and other stem cell studies.

UTHealth study: Stem cells may provide treatment for brain injuries

Preliminary results show safety of bone marrow stem cells in traumatic brain injury

Stem cells derived from a patient’s own bone marrow were safely used in pediatric patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to results of a Phase I clinical trial at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The results were published in this month’s issue of Neurosurgery, the journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

“Our data demonstrate that the acute harvest of bone marrow and infusion of bone marrow mononuclear cells to acutely treat severe TBI in children is safe,” said Charles S. Cox, Jr., M.D., the study’s lead author and professor of pediatric neurosurgery at the UTHealth Medical School. The clinical trial, which included 10 children aged 5 to 14 with severe TBI, was done in partnership with Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, where Cox is director of the pediatric trauma program.

All the children were treated within 48 hours of their injury with their own stem cells, which were collected from their bone marrow, processed and returned to them intravenously. UTHealth’s Department of Neurology is also currently testing the same bone marrow stem cell procedure in adults with acute stroke. In a separate trial, Cox is testing the safety of using a patient’s own cord blood stem cells for traumatic brain injury in children.

As a Phase I trial designed to look at feasibility and safety, the study did not assess efficacy. However, after six months of follow-up, all of the children had significant improvement and seven of the 10 children had a “good outcome,” meaning no or only mild disability.

Children who survive severe TBI are often left with serious complications and disability. Currently, there are no effective treatments to protect or promote repair of the brain in these brain-injured children.

Read more: Bone Marrow Stem Cells Safe for Young Traumatic Brain Injury Patients | Neuroscience News.

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Heart patient’s stem cells harnessed for healing – CBC News

Not bad. They are only a half decade behind the times. – DG

Heart patient’s stem cells harnessed for healing

CBC News Video Content

Stem cell heart surgery2:32

Some heart bypass patients are receiving cardiac stem cell transplants to try to repair damage.

This week, a 67-year-old James Culross from Toronto will be discharged from Toronto General Hospital after having 2.83 million stem cells injected into seven sites where his heart had been damaged by a heart attack in November.

When someone suffers a heart attack, part of the heart muscle dies and is replaced by a scar. In larger heart attacks, the patient can develop heart failure — a weakening of the heart that leaves the patient short of breath, said cardiac surgeon Dr. Terrence Yau of Toronto’s University Health Network.

Heart patient James Culross was the donor and recipient of his own stem cells. (CBC)

Yau and his colleagues at Toronto General’s Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal are involved in a clinical trial testing the safety, effectiveness and feasibility of injecting stem cells into the hearts of people having bypass surgery.

“This kind of therapy can improve the function and blood flow of hearts that have been injured by heart attacks most commonly and potentially by other means as well,” said Yau.

About 50,000 Canadians are diagnosed with advanced heart failure each year. On average, men live only 18 months and women three years after diagnosis.

While angioplasty, bypass surgery and stents can prevent new heart attacks, they don’t reverse exisiting damage. A new heart is the only known treatment for that, but transplants are invasive and expensive, and there is a lack of available donor organs.

That’s where the stem cells could come in.

Stem cells taken from marrow

In Culross’s case, the stem cells were taken from the bone marrow in the hip and lower back in the operating suite. After four to six hours, the stem cells were isolated, the bypass grafts done and the stem cells injected back into the damaged areas of his heart.

“I thought it was great,” Culross said of the procedure. “It’s your stem cells, nobody else’s.”

Culross is now working on improving his strength and walking more in the hopes of returning to his auto body repair job.

Since 2010, eight patients have also had the experimental procedure in Montreal.

The Montreal and Toronto teams plan to combine their findings once each has results on 20 patients.

No one knows yet whether the stem cell treatment will improve survival or quality of life by healing the heart.

Investigators worldwide are testing whether giving stem cells after a heart attack works better than existing therapies.

Heart patient’s stem cells harnessed for healing – Health – CBC News.

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WHAT IF GERTRUDE STEIN AND MR. ED HAD A STEM CELL BABY…

…

Some articles are not only fascinating but they lend themselves so easily to have a little bit of fun with.  With apologies to both Gertrude Stein and Mr. Ed (and a richly deserved apology to the good Dr. Goodrich):

WHAT IF GERTRUDE STEIN AND MR. ED

LITERALLY HAD A STEM CELL BABY…

…

The following study researched the effectiveness of bone marrow stem cells taken from 2 different sites on horses – the hip bone (iliac crest) and the sternum.

In the end, there was very little difference between the results of stem cells taken from the two sites.  This information has extremely significant therapeutic relevance as doctors can now focus on other criteria for site selection; ease of extraction, quantity of  cells, proportion of cell types, etc.  Further, this study reinforces the idioms:

“A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE”

“A STEM CELL IS A STEM CELL IS A STEM CELL”

“A HORSE IS A HORSE, OF COURSE, OF COURSE”

“A HORSE STEM CELL IS A HORSE STEM CELL, OF COURSE, OF COURSE”

Apologies to Will Shakespeare for being odd man out at the dance.  Now to worry; you are gone but not forgotten.

“A stem cell by any other derivation site would smell just as sweet.”

(Four more equine stem cell articles below)

………………

Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cell Sources Compared (AAEP 2011)

by: Christy Corp-Minamiji, DVM
January 22 2012, Article # 19470

Stem cell source site has been debated among researchers in recent years as stem cells have been gaining popularity in equine medicine. A research group at Colorado State University recently compared the use of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells from two sites on the horse’s body to determine which might be most effective for treating specific soft tissue injuries. Laurie Goodrich, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, presented results at the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Nov. 18-22 in San Antonio, Texas.

According to Goodrich, stem cells are particularly useful for treating tissues such as joints and tendons-these tissues lack regenerative capability due to a deficiency in local stem cell response. Stem cells have been derived from adipose tissue (fat) and bone-marrow. However, for tendon healing, bone marrow-derived cells yield better matrix and collagen production, she noted.

The research team compared bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) from the two most common extraction sites in the horse: the sternum (breastbone) and the ilium (hip). For BM-MSC therapy to be effective, Goodrich said two aspects are crucial: using large numbers of cells (roughly 5-10 million cells/centimeter in tendon and 5-10 million cells/joint) and implanting the cells early during the critical period between the inflammatory and fibroblastic phases of healing.

Goodrich discussed previously noted advantages and disadvantages for each site:

For the sternum:

• Advantages
  • The bone marrow aspirate flows better into the syringe;
  • The amount of aspirate is not influenced by age of the horse; and
  • Cells are easier to collect.
• Disadvantages:
  • The site is close to vital structures (heart, lungs); and
  • The collector must crouch under the horse.

For the ilium:

• Advantages
  • Practitioner doesn’t have to crouch while obtaining cells; and
  • There’s no risk of jabbing the heart or lungs.
• Disadvantages
  • It’s more difficult to get adequate cell volume;
  • The sample size is age-dependent; and
  • Ilial samples often result in unsuccessful culture.

Explore the power of the human-horse connection as you travel the emotional journey that veterinarians at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital and owners embark on when a beloved horse becomes ill in Equine ER

Researchers and clinicians had also noticed that the cells from sternal samples appeared different from those in ilial bone marrow samples.

Goodrich’s study sought to provide clinicians with better information to guide selection site and on whether the health of the MSCs varied between separate samples or (fractions) of bone marrow drawn from a site at one time. Goodrich and her co-authors examined two sequential 5 mL samples from both sternal and ilial bone marrow aspirates of seven horses (they “plated” cells from the sample/grew them in culture, referred to as a “passage”). They found that:

• The first fractions of both samples yielded the highest cell counts;
• The cells of the first fraction were no healthier than those of the second;
• The health of the sternal and ilial samples was the same;
• By the second and third culture passages, cell morphologies were similar between the two sites; and
• Aspirates greater than 5-10 mL produced insignificant increases to the nucleated cell count.
• Goodrich noted the following limitations to the study:
• A relatively small number of horses was used;
• There was some variability in age and gender of the horses; and
• They didn’t calculate the cell-doubling times, although the measurement of cell numbers at each passage was more relevant.

Goodrich’s team concluded that bone marrow aspiration site should depend on clinician preference, since the cells of one site do not appear to be superior to the other.

via The Horse | Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cell Sources Compared (AAEP 2011).

OTHER EQUINE STEM CELL ARTICLES:

Lions and puppys and horseys, oh my! « The Stem Cell Blog

repairstemcell.wordpress.com/…/lions-and-puppys-and-horseys-oh-m…

Mar 7, 2009 – http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/horse-racing-horse-racing-samantha-miss-has-stem-cell-treatment/ …

ANIMALS + STEM CELLS « The Stem Cell Blog

repairstemcell.wordpress.com/animals-stem-cells/

http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/equine-clinic-is-full-service-care-for-hoofed-friends-thecaliforniancom-the-salinas-californian/ …

GERON GIVES UP on EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS! « The Stem Cell …

repairstemcell.wordpress.com/…/geron-gives-up-on-embryonic-stem-…

Nov 14, 2011 – If Embryonic treatments were a horse race, Geron would be the strongest ….. repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/jewish-law-articles-the- …

KCBS – Stem Cell Research on Horses Holds Promise for Human …

repairstemcell.wordpress.com/…/kcbs-stem-cell-research-on-horses-h…

May 20, 2009 – http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/equine-clinic-is-full-service-care-for-hoofed-friends-thecaliforniancom-the-salinas-californian/ …

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CellNEWS: Bone Marrow-derived Cells Differentiate in the Brain through Mechanisms of Plasticity

“This study shows a potential new contribution of bone marrow derived cells following transplantation into the brain, making these cells highly versatile, in their ability to both differentiate into and fuse with endogenous neurons“

Bone Marrow-derived Cells Differentiate in the Brain through Mechanisms of Plasticity
Monday, 19 December 2011

Bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMDCs) have been recognized as a source for transplantation because they can contribute to different cell populations in a variety of organs under both normal and pathological conditions. Many BMDC studies have been aimed at repairing damaged brain tissue or helping to restore lost neural function, with much research focused on BMDC transplants to the cerebellum at the back of the brain. In a recent study, a research team from Spain has found that BMDCs, can contribute to a variety of neural cell types in other areas of the brain as well, including the olfactory bulb, because of a mechanism of “plasticity”.

Their results are published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (20:8).

“To our knowledge, ours is the first work reporting the BMDC’s contribution to the olfactory neurons,” said study corresponding author Dr. Eduardo Weruaga of the University of Salamanca, Spain.

“We have shown for the first time how BMDCs contribute to the central nervous system in different ways in the same animal depending on the region and cell-specific factors.”

In this study, researchers grafted bone marrow cells into mutant mice suffering from the degeneration of specific neuronal populations at different ages, then compared them to similarly transplanted healthy controls. An increase in the number of BMDCs was found along the lifespan in both experimental groups. Six weeks after transplantation, however, more bone marrow-derived microglial cells were observed in the olfactory bulbs of the test animals where the degeneration of mitral cells was still in progress. The difference was not observed in the cerebellum where cell degeneration had been completed.

“Our findings demonstrate that the degree of neurodegenerative environment can foster the recruitment of neural elements derived from bone marrow,” explained Dr. Weruaga.

“But we also have provided the first evidence that BMDCs can contribute simultaneously to different encephalic areas through different mechanisms of plasticity – cell fusion for Purkinje cells – among the largest and most elaborately dendritic neurons in the human brain – and differentiation for olfactory bulb interneurons.”

Dr. Weruaga noted that they confirmed that BMDCs fuse with Purkinje cells but, unexpectedly, they found that the neurodegenerative environment had no effect on the behavior of the BMDCs.

“Interestingly, the contribution of BMDCs occurred through these two different plasticity mechanisms, which strongly suggests that plasticity mechanisms may be modulated by region and cell type-specific factors,” he said.

“This study shows a potential new contribution of bone marrow derived cells following transplantation into the brain, making these cells highly versatile, in their ability to both differentiate into and fuse with endogenous neurons” said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg , coeditor-in-chief of Cell Transplantation and distinguished professor of Neuroscience at the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair, University of South Florida.

Source: Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Contact: David Eve

Reference:

Bone Marrow Contributes Simultaneously to Different Neural Types in the Central Nervous System Through Different Mechanisms of Plasticity
Recio, J. S.; Álvarez-Dolado, M.; Díaz, D.; Baltanás, F. C.; Piquer-Gil, M.; Alonso, J. R.; Werunga, E.
Cell Transplant. 20(8):1179-1192; 2011

CellNEWS: Bone Marrow-derived Cells Differentiate in the Brain through Mechanisms of Plasticity.