生物谷报道：美国科学家在6月5日的《细胞—干细胞》（Cell Stem Cell）发表论文研究尝试用人体神经胶质祖细胞医治患致命大脑疾病的老鼠，取得一定效果。科学家希望今后几年内能把这种新疗法用于人体临床试验，医治包括先天性遗传疾病在内的多种神经疾病。
美国罗切斯特大学的一个研究小组首先培育出一批神经系统发生基因突变的小鼠，这些小鼠出生后就颤抖不停。然后科学家从人类胎儿大脑中提取神经胶质祖细胞，并把这些细胞注入小鼠的脊髓。
神经胶质祖细胞可分化为组成髓磷脂的神经胶质细胞，髓磷脂是一种重要的蛋白质，能帮助神经系统传导信号。
科学家们为２６只患病幼鼠注射了神经胶质祖细胞，每只注射量为３０万个细胞；对另外５９只幼鼠则不进行任何治疗。在实验开始１５０天后，没有接受治疗的所有幼鼠全部死亡，但接受治疗的幼鼠中有６只存活下来，其中有４只寿命超过１４个月。
研究人员过去４年间不断完善这种特殊的治疗技术，目前可以在５个不同身体部位向小鼠注射神经胶质祖细胞，以保证这些细胞能够渗透到小鼠的整个神经系统。（生物谷www.bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Cell Stem Cell，Vol 2, 553-565, 05 June 2008，Martha S. Windrem, Steven A. Goldman
Neonatal Chimerization with Human Glial Progenitor Cells Can Both Remyelinate and Rescue the Otherwise Lethally Hypomyelinated Shiverer Mouse
Martha S. Windrem,1 Steven J. Schanz,1 Min Guo,1 Guo-Feng Tian,2 Vaughn Washco,1 Nancy Stanwood,3 Matthew Rasband,4 Neeta S. Roy,5 Maiken Nedergaard,2 Leif A. Havton,6 Su Wang,1 and Steven A. Goldman1,2,
1 Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
2 Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
4 Department of Neurobiology, Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
5 Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA
6 Department of Neurology, UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Corresponding author
Steven A. Goldman
steven_goldman@urmc.rochester.edu
Summary
Congenitally hypomyelinated shiverer mice fail to generate compact myelin and die by 18–21 weeks of age. Using multifocal anterior and posterior fossa delivery of sorted fetal human glial progenitor cells into neonatal shiverer × rag2−/− mice, we achieved whole neuraxis myelination of the engrafted hosts, which in a significant fraction of cases rescued this otherwise lethal phenotype. The transplanted mice exhibited greatly prolonged survival with progressive resolution of their neurological deficits. Substantial myelination in multiple regions was accompanied by the acquisition of normal nodes of Ranvier and transcallosal conduction velocities, ultrastructurally normal and complete myelination of most axons, and a restoration of a substantially normal neurological phenotype. Notably, the resultant mice were cerebral chimeras, with murine gray matter but a predominantly human white matter glial composition. These data demonstrate that the neonatal transplantation of human glial progenitor cells can effectively treat disorders of congenital and perinatal hypomyelination.
