The discovery may lead to advances in using brain stem cells to treat neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's that destroy neurons, the study's lead author told Reuters Health.
Stem cells are immature cells that develop into more advanced cells.
And neural stem cells have the potential to replace neurons lost to disease, according to Dr. Elena Cattaneo of the University of Milan. Several animal studies have shown that once neural stem cells are transplanted, they generate large numbers of another type of brain cell called glial cells, not the neurons that are needed, Cattaneo said. To solve this problem, Cattaneo and her colleagues set out to discover the 'intracellular triggers' that instruct neural stem cells to become neurons instead of glial cells. The researchers focused on several molecules called Shc adapters, which 'sense' a cell's surroundings. We found that immature neural stem cells express ShcA only, and that its presence is important for their division,' Cattaneo told Reuters Health.