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The Capital Times
By Aaron Nathans
April 19, 2005

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a way to insert healthy neural stem cells into diseased rats, and keep those cells alive.

The rats were afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. The researchers successfully transplanted genetically modified neural stem cells into a rat's spinal cord and kept the stem cells alive, releasing a neuron-protecting protein.

ALS causes motor neurons to decay and die.

"It's a nice step," said Clive Svendsen, a professor of anatomy at the UW's Waisman Center. He was the study's principal investigator. "It's not that we've cured ALS, but we've taken another step."

The scientists reported their results in today's edition of the journal Human Gene Therapy.

Sandra Klein, the paper's lead author, said: "The stem cells can stay alive in the spinal cord, even during the disease process."

The researchers did not work with human embryonic stem cells, which are controversial because they are developed by destroying a human embryo. Instead, they used specialized neural stem cells that grow during the first few weeks of brain development. They are only capable of developing into brain tissue, unlike human embryonic stem cells, which have much wider application.

The challenge now, the scientists said, is to see whether the stem cells can extend the life of a rat with ALS. If that is successful, the researchers would move directly to a small human trial.

Svendsen noted that the researchers only injected rats with small amounts of the stem cells to see if the cells could stay alive and emit the protective protein. They are now putting the stem cells in larger regions in the spinal cord, Svendsen said.

So far, he said, "we have encouraging results."