Life is all about making choices, and in cell life, the choices come early.
Now comes the revelation from an HMS and Children's Hospital research group in the June 22 Nature that our neurons may be induced into having second thoughts about healing themselves. The Macklis group was able to induce stem cells deep in the cerebral cortex of adult mice to replace damaged neurons. The new neurons grew from already present immature precursor cells into fully formed, connected, and mature replacements. These homegrown neurons demonstrate that the brain can heal itself from the inside out, without transplantation. This breakthrough in fundamental neural cell biology is a long way from clinical application, but Macklis says that if the mechanisms at work here can be understood and controlled, it may open a new avenue someday for treatment of degenerative brain diseases and central nervous system injuries.