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The study in question found evidence of migration of stem cells in the human brain.
Dr Mark Baxter, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, Oxford University, said:
“This study is exciting because it reveals a group of brain cells in the adult human brain that are continuously regenerating. Animal studies have pointed to the existence of such groups of cells, but it has been difficult to determine whether they exist in the human brain as well. This opens another direction by which we may discover ways to repair human brains that are damaged from injury or diseases, and underscores the importance of animal research in guiding biomedical research in humans.”
Professor Sebastian Brandner, Head of the Division of Neuropathology at the Institute of Neurology, UCL, said:
“What has been known for decades to happen in mice and rats is now shown to exist in humans. Stem cells are resting in certain areas of the brain, just beneath the large fluid-filled chambers called ventricles, and the novelty is that they can make their way to the olfactory bulb, the brain region where smells are registered. On their way they gradually become nerve cells which now can take on new functions.
“These findings are important for several reasons: Understanding stem cell biology is essential to study brain repair in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and it is even possible that stem cells are the source of some brain tumours. It also highlights the huge importance of animal models, because it shows again that many biological and disease mechanisms can be studied in detail in suitable animals even before they are known in humans.”