Eli and Edith Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research
In a study conductedUsing mouse embryonic stem cells, the scientists also created a method for producing all types of sensory interneurons in the laboratory. As the authors of the new paper noted, if their work can be replicated using human stem cells, this would be a key step toward developing a therapy to restore sensation in victims of spinal cord injuries.
Sensory interneurons in the spinal cord respondfor transmitting sensory information from the entire body to the central nervous system. In 2018, the laboratory of senior author Samantha Butler, professor of neuroscience, became the first group to create sensory interneurons from human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells. Then the scientists of the project figured out how to produce only some of their subtypes.
Now the scientists have presented detailed protocols.They can be used to direct stem cells to differentiate into each of the six subtypes of sensory interneurons. In addition, interneurons created using these protocols are genetically and molecularly indistinguishable from their real counterparts in the body. Therefore, scientists believe that the cells will have the same sensory functions.
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