Key points from article :
Researchers took stem cells, which are directed to astrocytes, a kind of brain cell that supports and influences neurons.
Astrocytes prompt regrowth of the long tendrils, called axons, that are essential for brain connectivity.
Oligodendrocyte (OPCs) progenitor cells are frequently damaged by white matter stroke (WMS).
transplanted astrocytes interact with the damaged OPCs and spur them to action.
Irene Llorente, the paper's first author says "... WMSs evolve and grow to develop into vascular dementia..."
Stem cells can grow up to become any kind of cell in the body.
This therapy depends on chemically coaxing stem cells to become the right type of astrocyte.
Process allows rapid, efficient, reliable and clinically viable production of our therapeutic product.
Once the cells are in the brain, they migrate to the damaged area and reproduce.
The transplanted cells multiply for a few months and then stop .
Research by David Geffen School of Medicine published in Stem Cell Research.
