In April researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School proved that stem cells could turn into any form of brain cell in research involving mice.

According to a University of Minnesota press release on the accomplishment,

Adult stem cells were injected into a mouse blastocyst, an early embryonic stage of a mouse. The result is the birth of a chimerical animal an animal that shows the presence of both the cells from the host mouse as well as cells that have developed from the transplanted stem cells. Within the brain, the transplanted stem cells developed into nerve cells that typically conduct electrical impulses, glial cells that provide support to the nerve cells, and myelin-forming cells that enhance the conduction of electrical impulses by nerve cells.

Co-investigator Catherine Verfaille said in a prepared statement that,

This tells us that these adult stem cells are capable of becoming nerve cells that communicate with other nerve cells within the brain and form proper neural circuits that permit the chimerical mice to function normally.

In fact, according to the BBC, the adult stem cells resulted in the growth of cells in parts of the brains of the mice that correspond to those effected by Alzheimer\’s, Parkinson\’s, and other similar disorders.

Source:

Stem cells \’turn into brain cells\’. The BBC, April 25, 2003.

Adult stem cells shown to develop into all brain cell types. Press Release, University of Minnesota, April 25, 2003.