Welcome To Iconocast

How to add a URL link from your web site to the Iconocast web sites

Virtual tour of Southern California

Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: stem + fail + cells  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/5/2008)

Boston Globe 'Ultimate Baby Shower' really just a rain of fear Boston Globe, United States - Aug 2, 2008 Cord blood rich with stem cells? What mother doesn't want to protect her child? That's what mothers do. "How likely is it that my family will need to use ... Author : The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Earthtimes (press release), UK - Dr. Jordan's research is focused on myeloid leukemia stem cells, from which cancers derive and relapses evolve. Leukemia stem cells produce large numbers of ... Washington Post McCain's Problem Isn't Bush Wall Street Journal - ... he has famously gone his own way on everything from stem cells and campaign finance to global warming and (before recanting) tax cuts. ... AssociatedPress The Good News According to Barack American Spectator all 1,548 news articles » Spinal Cord Stem Cells Could Be Basis Of Nonsurgical Treatment For ... Science Daily (press release) - Jul 21, 2008 The tiny number of stem cells in the adult spinal cord proliferate slowly or rarely, and fail to promote regeneration on their own. ... Love your lower belly fat Times of India, India - Aug 2, 2008 Well, then here?sa reason to rejoice a little? the fat in these areas of your body is rich in stem cells, which hold great scientific potential, ... Stem cell scientist predicts health revolution FierceBioResearcher, DC - Jul 29, 2008 ALSO: A group of scientists in Australia are studying ways to use stem cells to treat chronic angina in patients who have failed other remedies. Report. Researchers Test New Source for Blood Platelets U.S. News & World Report, DC - Jul 31, 2008 The researchers also noted that platelets derived from stem cells often fail to form clots properly, a problem that can be caused by the presence of enzymes ... Bioheart, Inc. to Present at Red Chip Investor Conference in New York FOXBusiness - Aug 2, 2008 Its lead product candidate, MyoCell(R), is an innovative clinical muscle-derived stem cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a ...BHRT - OTC:CMTX Stem Cell Donors Say Experience Is Life-Changing Five Towns Jewish Times Online, NY - Jul 31, 2008 ... and warmly thanked their son?s stem cell donor. Mr. Welling explained that he and his wife lost hope after a first failed transplant on their child. ... HepaLife(TM) Achieves 20-Fold Increase in Cell Production for ... MarketWatch - Jul 31, 2008 Efficient large-scale manufacturing of HepaLife's patented PICM-19 liver stem cells is a key consideration in the operation of the Company's bioartificial ...OTC:HPLF

WHEN SMELL CELLS FAIL THEY CALL IN STEM CELL RESERVES

Hopkins researchers have identified a backup supply of stem cells that can repair the most severe damage to the nerves responsible for our sense of smell. These reservists normally lie around and do nothing, but when neighboring cells die, the scientists say, the stem cells jump into action. A report on the discovery will appear online next week in Nature Neuroscience.
   
“These stem cells act like the Army Reserves of our nose,” explains lead author Randall Reed, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, “supporting a class of active-duty stem cells that help repair normal wear and tear. They don’t come in until things are really bad.”

The only nerve cells in the body to run directly from the brain to the outside world, olfactory cells are under constant assault from harsh chemicals that one might happen to catch a whiff of by accident, risking damage or death.

Article continues below and (thank you)

To figure out how the olfactory system repairs severely damaged nerve cells, Reed’s team exposed mouse olfactory nerves to a cloud of toxic methyl-bromide gas. Methyl bromide kills not only olfactory nerve cells but also neighboring, non-nerve cells in the nasal passage. Three weeks after chemical exposure, the researchers examined nasal cells to see which, if any, had grown back.

They discovered that the newly grown cells, both nerve and non-nerve, grew from HBCs-a population of cells not previously known for repair abilities. “We were stunned because HBCs normally don’t grow much or do anything,” says Reed. “And the most surprising thing is that HBCs can grow into both nerves and non-nerve cells; they do so by generating the other active type of nasal stem cell.”

The team then went back and looked at nerve repair under less damaging circumstances where only the olfactory nerve cells are killed. In this situation, the HBCs did nothing to repair the damaged cells; rather, they allowed the previously known stem cells to do all the repair work.

“The ability to smell is crucial for eating, mating and survival, and it’s important that the olfactory system be fully operational all the time,” explains Reed. “The HBCs act as a fail-safe to ensure continued function of the sense of smell.”

The discovery of these two distinct types of stem cells in one neural tissue is a first, says Reed, who is interested to see if other types of nerves in the body have similar repair mechanisms in play.

The research was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Authors on the paper are Cheuk Leung, Pierre Coulombe and Randall Reed, all of Johns Hopkins. 

On the Web:
http://neuroscience.jhu.edu/index.php
http://www.nature.com/neuro