offering new hope to patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, strokes, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders, scientists from the Harvard University have identified two key compounds that stimulate stem cell proliferation in the brain. The research and findings, which have been published online in Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology's website, furnish crucial clues towards finding which compounds might be responsible for causing key neurons to regenerate and finally restore brain function.
The research focused on two main compounds -- ltb4 and lxa4 -- both of which play a role in inflammation and are regulators of proliferation of several cell types. When stem cells isolated from the brains of mouse embryos were exposed to ltb4 they propagated and differentiated, giving rise to numerous additional stem cells and to differentiated neurons with limited or absent capacity to divide. On the other hand, when exposed to lxa4, these cells experienced decreased growth and apoptosis, which is a genetically directed process of cell self-destruction.
The study also provided insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved when ltb4 stimulates neuronal stem cells. According to the study, cells generated as a result of ltb4 exposure had high levels of ltb4 receptors, whereas the level of ltb4 receptors was considerably lower in similar cells not generated by ltb4 stimulation.
The investigators were further able to show that ltb4 up-regulated several molecules involved in cell cycling and growth, such as cyclins and epidermal growth factor receptor, and decreased those such as caspase 8 which play a role in apoptosis. lxa4 had the opposite effects.
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