Illustration of laboratory mice.
Illustration of a laboratory mouse. – ROBERT F. Bukaty / AP / SIPA

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This is a world first and a new achievement in the field of cell therapy: a scientific team Franco Belgian managed to repair the brain of a mouse making him a transplant neurons

The cortex, also called gray matter, is very fragile. It is not capable of self-regeneration . In case of brain damage (that may be caused by stroke, shock or disease), it is not able to reconstruct the missing cells and connections. Brain damage therefore generate significant functional deficits. Maybe not for long, thanks to the work Afsaneh Gaillard, University of Poitiers, in collaboration with the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Human and Molecular Biology of Brussels.

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In 61% of cases, neural transplant went well

The experiment was carried out on adult mice whose cortex was damaged at the head of the view area. Scientists have grafted him visual neural cells obtained by culturing in vitro embryonic stem cells. After a month and a half, the grafted neurons began to create connections. After one year, the transplant was successful on 61% of the animals, including the visual cortex has returned to normal operation. The results of this experiment were published in the journal Neuron .



There is no guarantee that this experience will work on man

Science sera- She soon be able to repair the brain affected by a stroke or Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s? This is an experimental research and there is still much research to be done before any application in humans, tempers Afsaneh Gaillard. On the one hand, the specimens for which the transplant failed developed tumors. On the other hand, for regenerating areas responsible for vision, for example, must be grafted neurons responsible for vision. The cortex, organized in separate areas of the brain, has a hundred different types of neurons.

The team plans to test these transplants in monkeys, whose brain structure is closer to man.