Welcome Transplants

‘Neural stem cells transplanted into a mouse brain’ by Yirui Sun. CC BY.

You’re looking at a group of outsiders smoothly adjusting to a new home. These neural stem cells (labeled in green) are demonstrating their flexibility to become any type of cell in the brain. Researchers grew these cells in the lab and transplanted them into the hippocampus of a mouse, where they’re taking on the characteristics of the usual cells in the area.

Similar experiments have found that these cells thrive in their new environment, not only copying their neighbors but also networking with them naturally. In the lab, human stem cells have even taken root in the brains of mice with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. After the cells dispersed in the animals’ brains, the animals’ abilities to remember and learn new things improved. The technique does not reduce the tell-tale Alzheimer’s plaques that muck up neuron function, but it might someday treat at least the symptoms of the disease in humans, too.

About the Author

Charlie Wood

Charlie Wood is a science writer with a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brown University and a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In previous lives he taught physics in Mozambique and English in Japan, but these days he freelances from his home in New York.