Microbiology/Genetics

Testicles Will Save the Brain

Testicular stem cells against Alzheimer's (senile dementia), Parkinson's, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers.

By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

21st of September 2007, 18:06 GMT

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The same factor that makes testicles produce millions of sperms daily can lead to their employment as a source of stem cells in treatments against severe conditions, like Alzheimer's (senile dementia), Parkinson's, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers.

A team at the Weill Cornell Medical College has managed to extract early-stage sperm cells from mice, which later developed into cells capable of forming various tissues. Still, some are not sure that too many men would be willing to undergo the painful

procedure of extracting the cells.

Stem cells are cells in the unspecialized stage, that can theoretically develop in any other type of cell. Of course, the human embryo is made almost only of stem cells, with the potential to develop into any tissue type, but ethical reasons impede the use of embryos for medical goals, that's why researchers are on the hunt for a replacing source of easily-harvested adult stem cells.

Stem cells had already been extracted from mouse testes, but the new study comes with a more reliable method of isolating and growing them. The advantage of the testicular cells over other types of adult stem cells is that they do not require genetic manipulation, behaving more like embryonic stem cells.

"It appears that these unique specialized spermatogonial (pre-sperm) cells could be an easily obtained and manipulated source of stem cells with exactly the same capability to form new tissues that we see in embryonic stem cells. For male patients, it could someday mean a readily available source of stem cells that gets around ethical issues linked to embryonic stem cells. It also avoids issues linked to tissue transplant rejection, since these 'autologous stem cells' are derived from the patient's own body.", said lead researcher Dr Shahin Rafii.

Future technology could implant large amounts of stem cells into diseased tissue, replacing it with the specialized newly grown cells they develop. "Several research teams around the world were looking into the potential of the testicle as a stem cell source. At present, there is an awful lot of interest in this from veterinary circles as a source of stem cells for animal use. I can see more problems getting humans to agree to have this done, as it would be a very painful procedure to have them extracted," warned Professor Colin McGuckin, a researcher in stem cell biology at the University of Newcastle.

TAGS:

testicle | stem | brain | cancer

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