Neuron transplants ‘could be used to repair brain disorders’

A new international research project has discovered a potential new method of repairing damage to the brain through the process of neuron transplants.

Collaborators from Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School have been able to transplant normally functioning embryonic neurons into the brains of mice that were unable to respond to leptin.

Under normal circumstances, these specimens would be likely to suffer from morbid obesity due to an inability to regulate metabolism, but the transplanted neurons were able to repair the defective brain circuits, minimising weight gain.

This shows that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was previously believed, which could suggest the same is true of other parts, such as those involved in spinal injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Jeffrey Macklis, Harvard University professor of stem cell and regenerative biology, said: "In these cases, can we rebuild circuitry in the mammalian brain? I suspect that we can."

Earlier this year, a Tel Aviv University study successfully trialled a robotic brain implant in a mouse model for the first time, which could also have positive implications for brain damaged patients.