Thanks to Neural Stem Cells...

- "Neural stem cells successfully implanted into the brains of four boys" by Jon Bardin
- Published on October 12, 2012
- The Los Angeles Times
-http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-stem-cells-implanted-into-brains-of-four-boys-20121012,0,32171.story

     I can only imagine how heartbreaking it would be to hear your child has a disease or a disability, where their brains cannot carry normal functions, affecting their movements. But I would think it to be miraculous if I heard that there was a chance for my child to be treated and be able to carry out everyday movements again.  
Maybe that is how the parents of these four boys felt when they were given the chance for neural stem cells to be implanted into their brains. The Pelizaeus- Merzbacher disease was the reason for these four boys to not think or move normally. Greatly influencing many people's precious lives, the Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease takes away the myelin around the brain cells. Myelin, which is fatty, helps carry out the messages in the brain at high speed. Without this substance around the brain cells, everything becomes much slower. The information that is supposed to be sent for your body to carry out, is sent at a slower pace rather than the fast pace it goes at for everyone else. Eventually, this affects the movement, coordination, and cognitive skills- functions that we do everyday.
     Luckily, researchers have found out that neural stem cells can be implanted into the brain without any complications. The neural stem cells that are implanted usually turn into one of the types of brain cells called oligodendrocyte, which produces myelin. After experimenting this on mice, researchers were ready to experiment on humans. They were later on implanted into the brains of the four boys, which has shown no complications yet. The implantation has shown improvements to the boys, as they slowly start improving in their movements and are producing a larger amount of myelin around their brain cells. This study may be able to help others with this disease or others who have a problem with brain functioning. Researchers come up with anything everyday, helping everyone and taking our lives to the next step.