A compound that spurs stem cells to become brain cells may hasten adult stem cell treatments for neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
The compound, bromodeoxyuridine, naturally becomes part of DNA.
It has also been discovered to make adult human stem cells more likely to become brain cells when they’re implanted in adult rat brains.
The finding, by a research team led by Kiminobu Sugaya of the University of Central Florida, is a step to using stem cells from a person’s blood or bone marrow to replace cells that die in Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
“By using a patient’s own stem cells instead of embryonic stem cells, we’re able to avoid the ethical concerns many people have about stem cell research,” says Sugaya. “We also don’t have to worry about the immune system rejecting the new cells.”
