A team of international scientists has found through rodent experiments that embryonic stem cells can help control psychological disorders, such as depression.
Drs. Miles Cunningham and Kim Kwang-soo at Harvard Medical School and Prof. Kim Dong-wook at Yonsei University recently announced their collaborative findings at the 2006 Seoul Symposium on Stem Cell Research at Yonsei University.
“Our team differentiated embryonic stem cells into nerve cells generating dopamine and serotonin while Dr. Cunningham devised a model of psychiatric disease for applying our technology, engrafting and evaluating approximately 80 animals,’’ Kim said.
“Then, the animals behaved as if they had taken anti-depressant medication. The tests demonstrate embryonic stem cells may be used to treat mental diseases in the future,’’ Kim said.
Dopamine and serotonin are well-known neurotransmitters, or the chemicals playing a key role in relaying, amplifying and modulating electrical signals between brain cells.
Researchers found low levels of the such neurotransmitters are associated with several disorders, notably Parkinson’s disease, depression and anxiety, to name a few.
“Our next goal is to inject dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons into rodent brains separately to watch how they work in the central nervous system,’’ Kim said.
“The experiments are progress. But we are still at the initial stage and it will take a long time to apply them to a human being,’’ Kim said.
The team will disclose these results soon to a well-known medical journal.
The Seoul Symposium on Stem Cell Research is an annual event, which first took place in 2003 hosted by the stem cell research center at Korea’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
