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[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

The Catawba Primate Lab may no longer have to pay Tyson Turkey Division 
to raid their dumpster for Gee Gee Body parts. Yes, folks, the days of 
payiing Tyson fifteen cents for four-day-old turkey brains may be behind 
us We're going to use Professor Zhu Jianhong's new process---create 
brain cells in Grow Bags for a cheaper and long overdue Gee Gee mental 
upgrade.




The Sunday Times - Britain

January 16, 2005

First brain cells grown in lab
Jonathan Leake, Science Editor
SCIENTISTS have successfully grown human brain cells in the laboratory 
for the first time and used them to repair the damaged brains of 
head-injury victims.

The breakthrough brings new hope in the search for therapies not only 
for accident victims but also for those suffering the effects of 
strokes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and a range of other degenerative 
conditions.

The researchers emphasise the research is experimental, but it suggests 
there may one day be hope for spinal injury victims such as the late 
Christopher Reeve, the Superman star paralysed in a riding accident who 
died last year. In the initial experiments a man given the cultured 
brain cells apparently regained the ability to walk.

The research was carried out in China by Professor Zhu Jianhong of Fudan 
University hospital, who will announce the results of his work in London 
later this month.

“This is a world first,” said Professor Stephen Minger, director of the 
stem cell biology laboratory at the Wolfson Centre for age-related 
diseases at King’s College London. He has already been to Shanghai to 
examine the methods used by Zhu and to see the eight patients he has 
treated.

“Many people have been trying to grow brain cells in the laboratory, but 
nobody has succeeded. If the initial results prove accurate, then this 
has huge implications for new treatments,” said Minger.

Scientists have long recognised that if they can find a way to grow 
neurones, the cells that comprise the functional parts of the brain and 
spine, then they will be able to treat a wide range of currently 
incurable conditions.

That is because in adult humans such cells have almost no ability to 
divide, grow and replace themselves as they die off through disease, 
injury or old age. By contrast, most other tissues, such as skin or 
muscle, can repair and rebuild themselves, so offsetting the ravages of 
time and disease.

After the age of 25 a typical adult loses millions of neurones a week, a 
process that can be accelerated in later years by diseases such as 
Alzheimer’s, leading to loss of cognitive skills and eventually the 
destruction of the personality.

Scientists have, however, always wondered if they could find a way to 
kick-start neurones so that they regain the ability to divide, grow and 
repair themselves.

The discovery of stem cells in the 1990s prompted new hope. Stem cells 
are primitive cells that have the potential to divide and grow into 
almost any kind of specialised cell. In adults there are different stem 
cells for most types of tissue, including the brain.

However, all previous attempts to use these to grow brain cells have 
failed. This is partly because of the difficulty of obtaining fresh 
brain cells to work on, meaning many groups have had to use samples from 
dead bodies.

Zhu is, however, understood to have used a different and much simpler 
method. He is said to have obtained his brain samples from the accident 
and emergency department of Hua Shan hospital where he works and which 
treats thousands of people with head and brain injuries each year.

A scientific report to the conference describes how he realised the 
potential of such material when he treated a patient who had been 
stabbed in the eye with a chopstick.

When the stick was removed it was covered in brain material, which Zhu 
was able to grow in a culture medium.

In the West such an approach would be hard to attempt because of the 
welter of ethical regulations that surround research on samples taken 
from living people. In China such rules are much looser. Zhu 
experimented with a range of culture mediums and growth factors — 
hormones that encourage cells to divide and grow — and found his 
approach had worked.

Two months later he had grown several million cells that he transplanted 
into a patient with a serious head injury. This was done by drilling 
tiny holes into the skull and placing several clumps of cells around the 
site of the injury.

The report, written by Minger on Zhu’s behalf, said subsequent brain 
scans showed the cells had grown further and integrated with the 
patient’s surviving brain cells to help them recover abilities lost 
through the injury.

Dr Peter Mountford, chief executive of Stem Cell Sciences, a leading 
British company in such research, said the breakthrough was outstanding. 
“What stands out is the simple fact they are actually undertaking 
clinical trials while we here in Britain are just beginning to think 
about it.