Transplanted brain stem cells survive without anti-rejection drugs in mice. By exploiting a feature of the immune system, researchers open the door for stem cell transplants to repair the brain.

In experiments in mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have developed a way to successfully transplant certain protective brain cells without the need for lifelong anti-rejection drugs.

A report on the research, published today (September 16, 2019) in the journal Brain, details the new approach, which selectively circumvents the immune response against foreign cells, allowing transplanted cells to survive, thrive and protect brain tissue long after stopping immune-suppressing drugs.

Another magical flavonoid!

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Researchers have created a compound, that when tested in mice, was able to promote the reconstruction of the myelin sheath surrounding neuronal axons. These findings could pave the way to a new treatment for combating demyelinating conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings were published in Glia. “I think we’ll know in about a year if this is the exact right drug to try in human clinical trials,” explained senior study author Larry Sherman, Ph.D., in a recent press release.

“If it’s not, we know from the mouse studies that this approach can work. The question is, can this drug be adapted to bigger human brains?”

What is myelin?

Three dozen adults who were all aged 60 or above were asked to take part a range of cognitive tests for the study.

Researchers led by a team based at the National University of Singapore also took MRI scans of the volunteers.

All of the participants, from Singapore, were also asked about how often they drink green, black or oolong tea, as well as coffee.

Ischemic stroke is a condition in which parts of the brain lose their blood supply, causing nerve damage. Once brain tissue suffers irreparable harm, the patient will experience irreversible disability or death, depending on the extent of neuronal loss. However, glial cells surrounding the neurons are activated by the injury and multiply. Now, scientists have found out how to insert genes into glial cells to convert them into neurons, thus filling in for some of the lost functioning cells to improve motor functions.

There are about 86 billion neurons in the brain, but billions of them can be lost with one moderate-sized stroke. About 800,000 new strokes occur each year in the US alone. The need is to regenerate new brain cells to replace the ones that die, at least partially. This is the only known way to restore motor functions that have been impaired or destroyed by a stroke or other brain injury.