BYLINE: By Alejandra Cancino, Independent Florida Alligator; SOURCE: U. Florida

LENGTH: 468 words

DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, Fla.

June 21, 2005 Tuesday

University of Florida scientists have been in the national spotlight since finding a new way of watching and controlling stem cells from a rodent’s brain until the cells become specialized — a new method mimicing the natural production of human brain cells.

“We used bits and pieces of different protocols to come up with the one that would let us see the reproduction of cells and control their growth,” McKnight Brain Institute Executive Director Dennis A. Steindler said.

Researchers have been looking for more than 50 years for a method that would induce brain stem cells to produce specialized cells that could cure diseases such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy, Steindler said.

Scientists from UF’s Program in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine believe this method could be the one.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can replicate many times over and become another type of cell with a specialized function, such as a red-blood cell or muscle cell.

UF scientists used new conditions to treat the rodent brain stem cells and exposed them to a growth factor, Steindler said.

After the cells were exposed to that factor, it was taken away, and the cells were directed toward the desired lineages.

UF scientists were able to watch the process step-by-step thanks to a special microscope that took pictures of the cells every five minutes, which were later compiled into a short film.

“For the first time scientists were able to watch the cells give life to new daughter cells,” Steindler said.

The study was published in the most recent issue of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

If this method can be duplicated with human brain stem cells, scientists could use it to screen for drugs that would stimulate the brain stem cells to produce specialized cells needed to cure diseases, Steindler said.

For example, Parkinson’s disease occurs when brain cells called substantia nigra begin to malfunction and eventually die.

In the case of Parkinson’s, scientists could use the method to screen for drugs that would stimulate brain cells to create more substantia nigra or physicians could generate substantia nigra in culture dishes and transplant them to the brain.

Substantia nigra cells are important because they produce dopamine, a chemical substance that transmits nerve impulses to parts of the brain that control movement initiation and coordination.

Without substantia nigra, the brain produces less dopamine, and as a result people with Parkinson’s disease begin to experience symptoms that might include tremors, rigidity, delayed movements or impaired balance and coordination.

Steindler said preliminary research with human brain cells has already been done.

“It looks encouraging,” he said. “We are pretty confident that this would work.”

(C) 2005 Independent Florida Alligator via U-WIRE