British scientists said Thursday they have developed a technique to repair damaged brain tissue that could lead to new treatments for stroke patients, as well as for Alzheimer's disease.
The scientists, headed by Professor Jeffrey Gray, expect to start clinical trials on humans within a few years, said Dan Charlton, spokesman for the Maudesley Hospital's Institute of Psychiatry.Gray's team members said they subjected laboratory rats to simulated heart attacks to cause severe brain damage and then injected the rats with brain cells from mice embryos.
The rats recovered completely and performed complex tasks, including navigating through milky water to a platform to avoid drowning.
The breakthrough, the researchers say, is that the injected brain cells - neuroepithelial stems cells, or NESCs - migrated to the damaged sites in the rats' brains and then adopted the characteristics of the dead cells.
"What makes this innovative is that the cells are laboratory-manufactured and that they migrate to the part of the brain which needs repair," Charlton said.