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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 "The blood supply was tied off for just 15 minutes and then restored," Prockop explained. "That causes massive damage to the brain. It's the sort of thing that happens when you have a cardiac arrest ... It's not quite a stroke because you're cutting off the blood supply then returning it."
Although the human cells disappeared within about a week, they nevertheless exerted dramatic effects upon the brain. "The number of dead neurons dropped off about 60 percent. It was quite amazing," Prockop said. "And the motor responses of mice improved dramatically."
Further analysis revealed that the human and mouse cells were actually signaling to each other, with the human cells changing the way certain genes were expressed. This meant that certain harmful immune and inflammatory responses were considerably suppressed, the researchers said.
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"These hMSCs are really blood cells and they have effects on vascular formation and angiogenesis [new blood vessel growth] and they also produce a fair number of growth factors and signaling factors that seem to ameliorate the disease process," Schwartz explained.
Ideally, the results would one day be translated into stroke and other therapies for humans, an area which is sadly lacking in options.
"This could be a therapy for patients who have had cardiac arrest either by itself or after surgery," Prockop said. "But the next step is to find out what human cells are producing to make all these effects."
"This is a really good study," Schwartz added. "It has a lot of value. Now the question is, can you move it eventually into the clinic and how do you go forward with the next set of studies involving large mammals and getting it generally approved by the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] as a methodology and treatment?"
More information
There's more on stem cell research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
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