移植可修復(fù)中風(fēng)損壞的老鼠大腦

移植可修復(fù)中風(fēng)損壞的老鼠大腦

"Six months after the transplantation, we could see how the new cells had repaired the damage that a stroke had caused in the rats' brains," says Professor Zaal Kokaia, who together with senior professor Olle Lindvall and researcher Sara Palma-Tortosa at the Division of Neurology is behind the study.

“移植六個月后，我們可以看到新的細胞是如何修復(fù)中風(fēng)對老鼠大腦造成的損傷的，”Zaal Kokaia教授說，他與高級教授Olle Lindvall 和神經(jīng)學(xué)部研究員Sara Palma-Tortosa 共同支持這項研究。

Several previous studies from the Lund team and others have shown that it is possible to transplant nerve cells derived from human stem cells or from reprogrammed cells into brains of rats afflicted by stroke. However, it was not known whether the transplanted cells can form connections correctly in the rat brain in a way that restores normal movement and feeling.

Lund團隊和其他研究人員先前的幾項研究表明，將來自人類干細胞或重編程細胞的神經(jīng)細胞移植到中風(fēng)老鼠的大腦中是可能的。 然而，目前還不清楚這些移植的細胞是否能夠在大鼠大腦中正確地形成連接，從而恢復(fù)正常的運動和感覺。

"We have used tracking techniques, electron microscopy and other methods, such as light to switch off activity in the transplanted cells, as a way to show that they really have connected correctly in the damaged nerve circuits. We have been able to see that the fibres from the transplanted cells have grown to the other side of the brain, the side where we did not transplant any cells, and created connections. No previous study has shown this," says Zaal Kokaia, who, even though he and colleague Olle Lindvall have studied the brain for several decades, is surprised by the results.

“我們使用了追蹤技術(shù)、電子顯微鏡和其他方法，比如用光來切斷移植細胞的活動，以此來證明它們確實正確地連接在受損的神經(jīng)回路中。”我們已經(jīng)能夠看到，來自移植細胞的纖維已經(jīng)生長到大腦的另一邊，也就是我們沒有移植任何細胞的那一邊，并產(chǎn)生了連接。盡管他和同事 Olle Lindvall 已經(jīng)研究了大腦幾十年，但是他還是對結(jié)果感到驚訝。

"It is remarkable to find that it is actually possible to repair a stroke-damaged brain and recreate nerve connections that have been lost. The study kindles hope that in the future it could be possible to replace dead nerve cells with new healthy nerve cells also in stroke patients, even though there is a long way to go before achieving that," says Olle Lindvall.

“值得注意的是，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)修復(fù)因中風(fēng)而受損的大腦并重建失去的神經(jīng)連接是可能的。 這項研究激發(fā)了人們的希望，即在未來，用新的健康神經(jīng)細胞替換中風(fēng)患者的死亡神經(jīng)細胞也是可能的，盡管要實現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)還有很長的路要走，” Olle Lindvall 說。

The researchers have used human skin cells that have been reprogrammed in the laboratory to become nerve cells. They were then transplanted into the cerebral cortex of rats, in the part of the brain that is most often damaged after a stroke. Now the researchers will undertake further studies.

研究人員使用了人類皮膚細胞，這些細胞在實驗室里被重新編程，變成了神經(jīng)細胞。然后，他們被移植到大鼠的大腦皮層，那是大腦中中風(fēng)后受損最嚴重的部分?，F(xiàn)在研究人員將進行進一步的研究。

"We want to know more about how the transplanted cells affect the opposite hemisphere of the brain. We also want to take a closer look at how a transplant affects intellectual functions such as memory. In addition, we will study possible side effects. Safety is, of course, extremely important for cell transplantation if it is going to be used clinically in the future," says Zaal Kokaia.

“我們想知道更多關(guān)于移植細胞是如何影響大腦的另一個半球的。我們還想進一步研究移植如何影響智力功能，如記憶。此外，我們將研究可能的副作用。當(dāng)然，如果將來要在臨床上使用，安全性對細胞移植來說是極其重要的。”Zaal Kokaia說。