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Possible Cure For MS Turns Common Skin Cells Into Working Brain Cells

Posted by samzenpus on from the from-one-thing-to-another dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have discovered a way to convert ordinary skin cells into myelinating cells, or brain cells that have been destroyed in patients with multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and other myelin disorders. The research, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, may now enable 'on demand' production of myelinating cells, which insulate and protect neurons to facilitate the delivery of brain impulses to the rest of the body."

2 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. So the next quesiton is.... by plazman30 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Now that you've made myelin, how do you get it to stick to actual damaged neurons and/or brian cells. If you inject it in there, is it naturally just going to bind to damaged cells?

    1. Re:So the next quesiton is.... by OG · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The abstract indicates that the researchers injected the induced oligodendrocytes into mouse brains and they bound to unmyelinated neurons. I don't have access to the article, and I'm not going to pay for it, but perhaps someone else can provide the technical details. Still, it's a question that the authors address.