science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Τετάρτη 10 Απριλίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Producing new neurones under all circumstances: a challenge that is just a mouse away

Posted: 09 Apr 2013 12:53 PM PDT

Improving neurone production in elderly persons presenting with a decline in cognition is a major challenge facing an ageing society and the emergence of neuro-degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. INSERM and CEA researchers recently showed that the pharmacological blocking of the TGFβ molecule improves the production of new neurones in the mouse model. These results incentivise the development of targeted therapies enabling improved neurone production to alleviate cognitive decline in the elderly and reduce the cerebral lesions caused by radiotherapy.

Fat cells prolong survival of human stem cells grown in vitro

Posted: 09 Apr 2013 11:37 AM PDT

One of the main obstacles that stands in the way of using human hematopoietic stem cells (hHSCs) to treat a variety of diseases is the difficulty growing them in culture—they quickly die or differentiate into other cell types. A series of experiments that demonstrate the successful use of fat cells as part of a feeder layer to support prolonged growth of hHSCs in culture is reported in an article in BioResearch Open Access, a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.