Cracking the nerve cell

Scrambled, sunny-side up, benedict, poached and now nerve cells? Eggs have always been the chameleon of foods, but now they may hold the answers to the treatment of brain diseases such as Parkinson’s.

Norwegian scientists have finally cracked the pathway of nerve cell production through the transplantation of adult human bone marrow stem cells into damaged chicken embryos. The process with which resulted in the development of fully functional physical features within the egg.

Stem cells have the amazing ability to form numerous kinds of tissue. However, until now adult bone marrow narrowed this ability only being able to produce blood and immune system cells.

Through micro-surgery within the chicken egg, a small section was cut out of the developing spinal cord. The damaged area was then implanted with human haematopoietic stem cells (hHSCs), which rapidly began repairing the damage through regulative regeneration. Signals for this particular repair system instructed the switch in development paths of the stem cells to become neurons. A process of which was exhibited in 60% of the embryos, whose bone marrow stem cells were integrated within the developing spinal cord.

The analysis of these results concluded a seemingly unlikely possibility that hybrid human/chicken cells were created through the fusion of the stem cells with their host, a process which would crush their treatment potential.

The next step is to uncover which compounds within the chicken spinal cord are the stimulants for the bone marrow to develop into neurons. Once identified these “cellular fertilizer” cells could hopefully be used to generate human neurons from adult stem cells – a process with limitless applications.

Joanna Law

Primary Reference:
Anonymous, 2005. Chicks used to create nerve cells. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4369185.stm. Accessed 23rd May 2008.

Secondary Reference:
Parker, R., 2005. Chick Embryos Turn Human Bone Marrow Stem Cells into Neurons. http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002680.html. Accessed 23rd May 2008.

Picture Source:
http://www.photoshopnerds.com/images/egg_14.jpg