“When God handed out the brains where were you?” may become a somewhat incomplete expression in the 21st century with the news that British scientists say they have created the world’s first pure batch of nerve stem cells made from human stem cells. The EducationGuardian reports:
The Edinburgh team at Stem Cell Sciences were granted one of the first licences in the UK to carry out medical experiments with embryonic stem cells. They have focused their efforts on growing nerve cells, which are integral to the brain and central nervous system.
It is hoped the newly-created cells will eventually help scientists to grow replacement brain tissue for people with neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
“Being able to grow pure brain cells is an exciting prospect,” said the Stem Cell Sciences chief executive, Peter Mountford. He said the breakthrough could offer new opportunities in cell-based drug discovery and cell-based therapies for neurological disorders.
Indeed, brain cells could be useful in many areas — such as the U.S. Congress. But we digress.The Scotsman offers more details:
The “brain in a bottle” will assist in developing drugs to combat diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s and may eventually enable doctors to repair damage to the brain.
The process has already been patented and an Edinburgh-based company is set to develop commercial applications for the research.
However, other scientists said it would be “highly irresponsible” to create the false hope for patients that the research was even close to growing transplants for such a complex organ as the brain.
Edinburgh University gained one of the first licences in the UK to carry out medical experiments with embryonic stem cells, cells from an early embryo that can grow into any cell in the body.
Meanwhile, the BBC has some interesting reaction to the news:
Professor Austin Smith, who led the research at the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC: “We’re already talking with the bio-technology and bio-pharmaceutical companies about taking these cells into screening systems for new drugs. Hopefully that will come to pass within two to three years.
“In terms of the possibility of using the cells for transplantation, that’s a much more difficult and longer term thing and I think there we’re talking more of the five to ten year range.”
However, critics say it is unethical to use human embryos in scientific research.
Previous attempts at creating the nerve cells have produced contaminated samples that have not been scientifically useful.
Robert Meadowcroft, of the Parkinson’s Disease Society, welcomed the news: “The purity of these cells should prove particularly valuable in studying the possibilities for transplantation and replacement of damaged tissue.”
The Alzheimer’s Society echoed this view, saying that the inability to grow nerve cells from human embryonic stem cells had previously been a major obstacle to progress in this area.
No matter what the scientific advances may be, it’s still going to come down to the central battle over whether it’s ethical to use human embryos or not. What’s likely to happen is that if a body of evidence keeps emerging that stem cells provide vital cures or treatments, opposition to its use will begin to slowly receed in some quarters — but the remaining opposition will remain steadfast since its rounded in strongly-held theological beliefs. So there will likely be a continued tug — between the scientific and the theological — and it’s likely to grow stronger as more breakthroughs emerge.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.