Human skin cells directly "transform" motor neurons September 11, 2017 Source: Technology Daily According to the recently published "Cell Stem Cell" magazine, researchers at the University of Washington Medical School successfully converted skin cells from healthy adults into motor neurons without undergoing steps such as stem cell culture. The latest method not only helps to develop new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, but also avoids ethical disputes in stem cell research. Motor neurons drive muscle contraction, which, once damaged, can lead to devastating diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy, which eventually lead to paralysis and premature death. Scientists have been hoping to develop new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, but because of the inability to culture human motor neurons in the laboratory, many efforts have been ineffective. The researchers used skin cells from healthy adults aged 20 to 70. The transformed motor neurons are inferior to the normal mouse motor neurons in terms of gene opening and closing and function. But because it is difficult to obtain motor neuron samples from healthy adults, it is unclear whether these cells are perfectly matched to natural human motor neurons. Because researchers can't sample motor neurons from living humans, they can easily sample the skin, so new technologies make it possible to study motor neurons in the lab. More importantly, the transformed motor neurons retain the age of the original skin cells, which is the age of the patient, while maintaining the age characteristics of the cells, for studying neurodegenerative diseases that develop at different ages and worsen over the next few decades. It is vital. The pluripotent stem cell approach is similar to the removal of a house to re-start a new building; the new approach is more like a renovation, where the interior is modified while preserving the original structure, thus preserving the characteristics of aged adult neurons that require research. Without the stem cell stage, the ethical disputes caused by pluripotent stem cells are eliminated. In the future, the researchers will conduct further research on neuronal samples donated after the patient's death. (Reporter Feng Weidong) Editor-in-chief The scope of scientific research involves all aspects of nature, and human beings themselves are an extremely important area of ​​exploration. From stem cell research, to gene editing, to mapping brain maps, the boundaries of this territory touch the front and back again and again. At the same time, research in this field is very easy to cause ethical controversy. If it can solve or alleviate the problems of human beings, old ages, illnesses and deaths, and it will not make people feel contradictory, it is really excellent. Studies that directly convert human skin cells into motor neurons appear to have such "temperament." Semi-Auto Chemistry Analyzer,Semi-Auto Biochemistry Analyzer,Biochemistry Analyzer,Semi-Automatic Clinical Chemistry Guangdong Widinlsa International Co.Ltd , https://www.guangdongwidinlsa.com