A schematic diagram of human stem cells.
A study published Feb. 24 in the journal Cell Stem Cell reports finding a key protein and seeing an increase in the number of newborn neurons in the brains of mice in experiments by boosting levels of this protein.
Throughout a person’s Life, brain stem cells are responsible for continuously producing new neuronal cells needed for various functional areas, such as the hippocampus, which is associated with memory. As we age, and in severe cases such as dementia, the ability to produce new neurons in the brain decreases, leading to memory loss.
It has been found that the proteins within the nucleus of neural stem cells, known as nucleoproteins, have a specific proportional structure that ensures the gradual accumulation of harmful proteins is evenly distributed to the two newly divided daughter cells. This plays an important role in maintaining a robust supply of neurons in stem cells over a long period of Time.
However, with the onset of aging, the structure of nucleic acid proteins changes, resulting in the inability to ensure that the harmful proteins are evenly distributed across the daughter cells. The researchers saw within the brains of aged mice that this problem led to a decrease in the number of newborn neurons in the brains of aged mice.
The researchers found that the lamin B1 protein played a key role in this process, and that levels of this protein were decreasing with age. When the researchers supplemented the aged mice with lamin B1 protein, the ability of the stem cells to produce new neurons was elevated and more new neurons were seen to be produced.
Activating aging stem cell research has been a hot area in recent years. This study is one of those projects.
The authors of this study believe that the results could be useful for other stem cells as well, and that this is an important step forward in exploring the field of stem cell aging.
Now that we can reactivate stem cells in the brain, we hope these findings will help improve the growth of neural tissue in the future, for example by improving the health of the elderly or other patients with neurological decline,” said study leader Sebastian Jessberger, a professor at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. health in patients with decline, even if this is many years away.”
Recent Comments