Neuroregulatory stem cells found

Research opens a new approach to the problem of neural tube defects. Researchers at the University of Colorado (CU) have discovered that the lack of a gene can prevent the neural tube from closing – a potentially fatal or paralyzing condition. The study was published this week in the journal Gene & Development.

Neural tube defects are one of the serious birth defects requiring emergency surgery (photo: illustration).

According to Professor Lee Niswander, a pediatrician at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the lead researcher on this issue, the neural tube is the beginning of the brain and spinal cord. A defect in the mLin41 gene prevents the neural tube from closing due to insufficient neural progenitor cells.

Professor Lee Niswander and the paper's first author, Jianfu Chen, discovered this while they were studying neural stem cells in mice.

They say that cells use distinct self-replication programs to meet the demands of cellular growth and change throughout different stages of embryonic development. However, the molecular mechanisms that control these programs remain a major mystery.

Researchers discovered that the mlin41 gene in mice controls the level of neural stem cell proliferation during neural tube closure but not in later stages of brain development.

Niswander said, "Our research opens up a different approach to the issue of neural tube defects. This helps explain how neural regulation works."

Neural tube defects are known to be serious birth defects requiring emergency surgery or medical intervention while the baby is still in the womb. The defect occurs when the neural tube fails to close between days 18 and 28 of pregnancy.

According to VOV online