Skin cells ‘turned into neurons’ by US scientists
By Neil BowdlerScience reporter, BBC News
An image of neurons in the brain. The researchers claim such cells can be made from skin cellsA Californian team say they have managed to convert human skin cells directly into functioning brain cells.
The scientists manipulated the process by which DNA is transcribed within foetal skin cells to create cells which behaved like neurons.
The technique had previously been demonstrated in mice, says the report in Nature.
It could be used for neurological research, and might conceivably be used to create brain cells for transplant.
Reprogrammed skin
The scientists used genetically modified viruses to introduce four different “transcription factors” into foetal skin cells. These transcription factors play a role in the “reading” of DNA and the encoding of proteins within the cell.
They found the introduction of these four transcription factors had the effect of switching a small portion of the skin cells into cells which functioned like neurons.
Unlike other approaches, the process did not involve the reprogramming of the skin cells into stem cells, but rather the direct transformation of skin cells into neurons.
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