移植可修复中风损坏的老鼠大脑

移植可修复中风损坏的老鼠大脑

"Six months after the transplantation, we could see how the new cells had repaired the damage that a stroke had caused in the rats' brains," says Professor Zaal Kokaia, who together with senior professor Olle Lindvall and researcher Sara Palma-Tortosa at the Division of Neurology is behind the study.

“移植六个月后，我们可以看到新的细胞是如何修复中风对老鼠大脑造成的损伤的，”Zaal Kokaia教授说，他与高级教授Olle Lindvall 和神经学部研究员Sara Palma-Tortosa 共同支持这项研究。

Several previous studies from the Lund team and others have shown that it is possible to transplant nerve cells derived from human stem cells or from reprogrammed cells into brains of rats afflicted by stroke. However, it was not known whether the transplanted cells can form connections correctly in the rat brain in a way that restores normal movement and feeling.

Lund团队和其他研究人员先前的几项研究表明，将来自人类干细胞或重编程细胞的神经细胞移植到中风老鼠的大脑中是可能的。 然而，目前还不清楚这些移植的细胞是否能够在大鼠大脑中正确地形成连接，从而恢复正常的运动和感觉。

"We have used tracking techniques, electron microscopy and other methods, such as light to switch off activity in the transplanted cells, as a way to show that they really have connected correctly in the damaged nerve circuits. We have been able to see that the fibres from the transplanted cells have grown to the other side of the brain, the side where we did not transplant any cells, and created connections. No previous study has shown this," says Zaal Kokaia, who, even though he and colleague Olle Lindvall have studied the brain for several decades, is surprised by the results.

“我们使用了追踪技术、电子显微镜和其他方法，比如用光来切断移植细胞的活动，以此来证明它们确实正确地连接在受损的神经回路中。”我们已经能够看到，来自移植细胞的纤维已经生长到大脑的另一边，也就是我们没有移植任何细胞的那一边，并产生了连接。尽管他和同事 Olle Lindvall 已经研究了大脑几十年，但是他还是对结果感到惊讶。

"It is remarkable to find that it is actually possible to repair a stroke-damaged brain and recreate nerve connections that have been lost. The study kindles hope that in the future it could be possible to replace dead nerve cells with new healthy nerve cells also in stroke patients, even though there is a long way to go before achieving that," says Olle Lindvall.

“值得注意的是，我们发现修复因中风而受损的大脑并重建失去的神经连接是可能的。 这项研究激发了人们的希望，即在未来，用新的健康神经细胞替换中风患者的死亡神经细胞也是可能的，尽管要实现这一目标还有很长的路要走，” Olle Lindvall 说。

The researchers have used human skin cells that have been reprogrammed in the laboratory to become nerve cells. They were then transplanted into the cerebral cortex of rats, in the part of the brain that is most often damaged after a stroke. Now the researchers will undertake further studies.

研究人员使用了人类皮肤细胞，这些细胞在实验室里被重新编程，变成了神经细胞。然后，他们被移植到大鼠的大脑皮层，那是大脑中中风后受损最严重的部分。现在研究人员将进行进一步的研究。

"We want to know more about how the transplanted cells affect the opposite hemisphere of the brain. We also want to take a closer look at how a transplant affects intellectual functions such as memory. In addition, we will study possible side effects. Safety is, of course, extremely important for cell transplantation if it is going to be used clinically in the future," says Zaal Kokaia.

“我们想知道更多关于移植细胞是如何影响大脑的另一个半球的。我们还想进一步研究移植如何影响智力功能，如记忆。此外，我们将研究可能的副作用。当然，如果将来要在临床上使用，安全性对细胞移植来说是极其重要的。”Zaal Kokaia说。