Adult Scalp Cells Become Brain Cells -- and More
Aug. 13, 2001 -- What's near the outside of your head might someday fix what's on the inside. Stem cells found in the skin of the scalp seem to be able to turn into brain cells.
Cells from mice -- found in the layer of skin just below the surface layer -- can, under the right test-tube conditions, turn into several different kinds of brain cells. They also can turn into muscle and fat cells, according to a report in September's issue of Nature Cell Biology.
"These cells are really very promiscuous," study leader Freda D. Miller, PhD, tells WebMD. "They sort of easily become one thing or another. Very small tweaks make them completely different cells. That has been one of the big surprises to us."
It remains to be seen whether human cells can do the same thing their mouse cousins can do. But if they can, they might one day be used to treat now-incurable brain diseases and spinal cord injuries.
"This stuff is so radical," says Miller, a professor at McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute in Quebec. "We've done some [nerve] transplantation in mice, and we have encouraging results. We are just starting to do spinal cord injury stuff in these animals."
Why skin cells?
"We wanted a [very easy-to-reach] source for treating a damaged nervous system," Miller says. "And these cells grow like crazy. Those two things are very important if any of this stem cell stuff becomes a therapeutic reality. Imagine: You could take a spinal cord-injury victim and harvest a small sample of skin, grow these cells, and use them to treat the patients. Of course, it is still just a dream at this point."
Because the cells would come from patients themselves, they could be transplanted without fear of rejection.
Neil D. Theise, MD, is part of a research team that recently found bone marrow cells that can turn into any other type of cell in the body (see More related articles below). Theise praises the Miller team's work.
"It's good stuff," he tells WebMD. In this research, the researchers managed to get these cells to turn into two of the three different types of cells from which all cells arise, he says. "Our bone-marrow cells can turn into all three. I think it's probably just a matter of them finding the right recipe to make the skin cells do this, too."