Two brain region cells evolve separately from each other, a new Stanford study reveals. The finding has allowed researchers to more effectively develop stem cells into the appropriate neuron cells—and may help study certain neurodegenerative diseases, like ALS.
Researchers studied the earliest phase of embryonic development in mice. By 7.5 days after conception, they noticed two distinct clusters of cells that would evolve into brain regions, and used tissue staining to tag them. The back half of the brain—the so-called hindbrain, which controls speech and swallowing—had distinct cells from the front and midbrain. Researchers characterized the results as evidence the brain is, in fact, two distinct organs, and that this explains why scientists have struggled for years to grow certain brain cells in the laboratory.
Separately, a man with a rare form of ALS has seen symptoms ease one year after receiving an RNA treatment. The intervention targets how much protein is produced by a gene mutation found in fewer than 1% of ALS patients.
