A Spanish team in collaboration with an American laboratory have just achieved a breakthrough for the world of neurology. According to the research, published in the journal ‘ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ‘ (PNAS), they have succeeded, for the first time, in transforming cells from the umbilical cord of a newborn baby into neurons, which opens up a world of possibilities for future treatments against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
The cells of the umbilical cord offer researchers many possibilities for the recovery of tissues and organs. Its structure and capacity are very similar to stem cells (those that are not differentiated and that can self-renew), which means that they have a certain flexibility to end up being one type of cell or another. So why not try to obtain neurons from cells in the umbilical cord?
It is not actually the first time that neuronal cells have been obtained from somatic cells (those that make up the growth of tissues and organs), however, it is the first time that it has been achieved by applying a single transcription factor , the Sox2. To achieve this, the researchers introduced the specific factor into umbilical cord cells thanks to a retrovirus and, after culturing them in the laboratory, they observed that these neuronal cells transmitted electrical impulses, just like mature neurons.
Although there is still much work to be done, the research opens the doors to new treatments against various degenerative diseases of the brain.
