Newly Identified Neural Stem Cells Could Transform Parkinson's Treatment

Credit: Gerd Altmann/ PixabayThe detection of peripheral neural stem cells could transform treatment of Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.A team of researchers from more than ten laboratories in Europe, Asia and North America examined newly identified cells in mice called peripheral neural stem cells. These cells share important molecular and functional characteristics with neural stem cells of the brain. Peripheral neural stem cells have the same cell morphology, self-renewal and differentiation capacity as neural stem cells of the brain. They express several specific markers and have genome-wide transcriptional and epigenetic profiles that are consistent with those of neural stem cells in the brain. Furthermore, many peripheral neural stem cells that migrate out of the neural tube can differentiate into mature neurons and, to a limited extent, glial cells during embryonic and postnatal development.The discovery of the new cell type not only provides new insights into the development of the mammalian nervous system. Their existence also challenges a long-standing hypothesis in neuroscience and, because they can be grown in substantial numbers in the petri dish, opens up new possibilities for regenerative medicine. Furthermore, obtaining neural stem cells from the brain is not a favoured method. By contrast, obtaining...

Read More........→April 16, 2025

Those Who Got Shingles Vaccine Were 20% Less Likely to Get Dementia in Study of 280,000 Seniors

CDC library – public domainOlder people who received the vaccine for shingles had a 20% lower risk of dementia, according to researchers who called the results “remarkable”.The study looked into the health records of seniors in Wales and revealed that those who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years than those who didn’t receive the jab.Scientists say the findings support an emerging theory that viruses which affect the nervous system can increase the risk of dementia.The new findings suggest that a preventive intervention for dementia is already close at hand.Shingles is a viral infection that produces a painful rash, and is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, varicella-zoster. After people contract chicken pox, usually in childhood, the virus remains dormant in the nerve cells for life. In people who are older or have weakened immune systems, the dormant virus can reactivate and cause shingles.Previous studies based on health records have linked the shingles vaccine with lower dementia rates, but the research could not account for one major source of bias: people who are vaccinated also tend to be more health conscious.The study’s senior author, Dr. Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford Medicine, said that most studies suffered from the basic problem. “In general,...

Read More........→April 14, 2025