美国研究人员日前报告说，他们进行的动物研究显示，神经干细胞有望帮助脑瘤患者修复受损的认知功能。
美国加利福尼亚大学欧文分校的研究人员培育出患脑瘤的实验鼠，并对它们的脑部进行放疗，实验鼠的认知能力因而受到损伤。放疗两天后，研究人员向它们的脑部植入人类神经干细胞，在随后1个月及4个月的评估中，这批实验鼠的认知能力都得到改善，而未接受移植的对照组实验鼠，其受损认知能力未发生变化。
研究人员发现，移植10万个神经干细胞就足以提高实验鼠的认知能力。移植后存活的神经干细胞中有15％转化为新的神经细胞，另有45％转化为星形胶质细胞和少突细胞。星形胶质细胞是脑内神经胶质细胞的一种，这类细胞有保护神经细胞并将血液中的养分提供给神经细胞的作用。少突细胞是一种神经胶质细胞，它负责制造一种称为髓磷脂的物质，形成包裹神经细胞的髓鞘。
这项研究成果已发表在美国学术刊物《癌症研究》上。领导该研究的放射肿瘤学教授查尔斯·利莫利说，上述发现提供的证据表明，神经干细胞可以用来逆转大脑中健康组织因放疗受到的损伤。
生物探索推荐英文原文：
Human Neural Stem Cell Transplantation Ameliorates Radiation-Induced Cognitive Dysfunctiona
Abstract:Cranial radiotherapy induces progressive and debilitating declines in cognition that may, in part, be caused by the depletion of neural stem cells. The potential of using stem cell replacement as a strategy to combat radiation-induced cognitive decline was addressed by irradiating athymic nude rats followed 2 days later by intrahippocampal transplantation with human neural stem cells (hNSC). Measures of cognitive performance, hNSC survival, and phenotypic fate were assessed at 1 and 4 months after irradiation. Irradiated animals engrafted with hNSCs showed significantly less decline in cognitive function than irradiated, sham-engrafted animals and acted indistinguishably from unirradiated controls. Unbiased stereology revealed that 23% and 12% of the engrafted cells survived 1 and 4 months after transplantation, respectively. Engrafted cells migrated extensively, differentiated along glial and neuronal lineages, and expressed the activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc), suggesting their capability to functionally integrate into the hippocampus. These data show that hNSCs afford a promising strategy for functionally restoring cognition in irradiated animals. Cancer Res; 71(14); 4834–45. ©2011 AACR.
