Key points from article :
Restoring mobility and sensation of touch in stroke-afflicted rats, successful.
Done by reprogramming human skin cells to become nerve cells.
Then transplanted into rat cerebral cortex (most often damaged after stroke).
6 months post-transplantation, new cells had repaired stroke damage.
Tracking techniques used to verify if brain connections were properly formed.
Fibers from transplanted cells have grown to the other side of the brain.
Confirming that they really have connected correctly in the damaged nerve circuits.
Future hopes of replacing dead nerve cells with new healthy ones in stroke patients.
Further studies to see how transplanted cells affect opposite hemisphere, memory.
Possible side effects will be determined in case of future clinical use.
