BROKEN skulls can be repaired using cells from human embryos, scientists have shown.
Researchers were able to plug holes in the skulls of mice by transplanting the stem cells, which grew into new bone tissue.
Although at an early stage, the experiment indicated one way that human embryonic stem cells, or cells like them, might be used in practical treatments.
These stem cells are immature mother cells found in early embryos which are said to be "pluripotent" - having the potential to develop into any part of the body, barring eggs and sperm.
Scientists believe they could prove invaluable for research and may also be used to treat a range of diseases.
Replacement tissue could be grown to repair brains damaged by Parkinson's disease, patch up the pancreas to halt type 1 diabetes, or fix ailing hearts.
But destroying human embryos to extract stem cells is ethically unacceptable to many people. Recently scientists in the US and Japan succeeded in transforming ordinary skin cells into cells with the same characteristics. Ultimately it may be possible to use them for similar treatments. The latest research, at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, showed it was possible using these stem cells to repair "critical-size" skull defects which would not normally heal on their own.
Scientists grew the stem cells in the laboratory, and from them derived mesenchymal precursor cells, a more developed cell type capable of giving rise to fat, cartilage, bone and muscle. These were then "seeded" into tiny three-dimensional "scaffolds" and grafted into the mouse skulls.
The scaffolds were made of a biodegradable plastic-like material and a gritty mineral called hydroxyapatite. It was hydroxapatite that directed the cells towards becoming the "intramembraneous" tissue that makes up the skull, jaw and collar bone.
When the mineral was absent, they transformed into cartilage. Under normal conditions, cartilage becomes the "endochondral" tissue found in the "long" bones of the limbs and rib cage.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/human-stem-cells-mend-broken-skull/2007/12/02/1196530481909.html
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