PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsEmbryonic spinal cord precursor cells generated for first time

BioNews

Embryonic spinal cord precursor cells generated for first time

Published 26 August 2014 posted in News and appears in BioNews 768

Author

Dr Lux Fatimathas

Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.

Scientists have generated the specialised cells in the embryo that go on to form spinal cord, muscle and bone tissue and used them to produce nerve and muscle cells...

Scientists
have generated the specialised embryonic cells that go on to form spinal
cord, muscle and bone tissue and used them to produce nerve and muscle cells.

The
scientists hope that their newly acquired ability to generate this intermediate
cell type will lead to improved research and maybe even treatments in neurodegenerative conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy.

'We can’t yet
produce the tissues themselves', said Dr James Briscoe from the Medical Research Council (MRC) National
Institute for Medical Research, UK, who co-led the study, 'but this a really
big step. It’s like being able to make the bricks and raw materials but not yet
build the house'.

The
intermediate 'stepping stone' cells the scientists generated are called neuro-mesodermal
progentiors (NMPs). Dr Briscoe says NMPs 'have largely been overlooked - even
though they were first discovered more than 100 years ago'.

Starting
off with mouse or human embryonic stem cells, the scientists stimulated two key
cell signalling pathways, Wnt and Fgf, to push the cells towards becoming NMPs.
Further exposure of the NMPs to different combinations of these two cell
signals then induced the production of nerve or muscle cells - both in in vitro experiments and by the
transplantation of NMPs into chick embryos.

Professor
Val Wilson, the co-leader of the research from the MRC Centre for Regenerative
Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said: 'NMPs are important because
they're the source of the spinal cord and most of the bones and muscles in our
body. But they have been like Cinderella cells. Although recognised for more
than a century in the embryo, they've tended to be ignored by scientists trying
to make these cell types in a dish'.

Researching embryonic development is
technically challenging and requires cell culture models to accurately replicate
developmental stages. Being able to generate NMPs should therefore improve
researchers' understanding of how the spinal cord develops but also how
problems can arise.

The study was published in the journal PLOS Biology.

Related Articles

Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
News
8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Placenta and organ formation observed in mouse embryo models

by Dr Rachel Montgomery

Researchers in Israel have observed the formation of the placenta, yolk sac and some organs, in embryo models derived entirely from mouse embryonic stem cells...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
11 March 2021 • 2 minutes read

Spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy coming to the NHS

by Martha Roberts

The NHS has agreed a deal to make gene therapy available for children with spinal muscular atrophy...

Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
News
16 May 2014 • 2 minutes read

Human stem cells reverse multiple sclerosis in mice

by Alice Plein

Mice with a viral form of multiple sclerosis are able to walk again after receiving a transplant of human stem cells, scientists report...

Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
News
25 April 2014 • 2 minutes read

Human cloning first: stem cells created from adult skin cells

by Sarah Pritchard

Scientists have used a cloning technique to successfully create human embryonic stem cells from adult cells for the first time...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
News
29 August 2013 • 3 minutes read

'Mini-brains' grown from stem cells

by Dr Sophie Pryor

Human stem cells have been used to grow miniature brains, 'organoids' that are just millimetres across and at an equivalent developmental stage as in a nine-week-old fetus...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
News
19 April 2013 • 2 minutes read

Motor neurone disease stem cell trial advances to next phase

by Matthew Young

A neural stem cell therapy aimed at treating the symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is set to advance in the USA, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave its approval for it to proceed to the next stage of clinical trials...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Illumina partners big pharma for 'one gene test fits all' approach to cancer

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.

Find out how you can advertise here
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
13 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Drop in diversity of blood stem cells leads to old-age health issues

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Placenta and organ formation observed in mouse embryo models

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Complex structures of the human heart bioengineered

8 August 2022 • 1 minute read

Brain tumour gene also linked to childhood cancers

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Lower hormone doses may improve IVF egg quality

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Boosting muscle cell production of gene therapy proteins

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856