Neural stem cell research: a revolution in the making

Abstract

Existence of stem cells capable of differentiating in all types of haemopoietic cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets has been known for the last one decade. These have been isolated from bone marrow cultured and made to differentiate into specific cell types. It is, however, only in the last couple of years that totipotent cells isolated from human embryo at the blastocyst stage, have been shown to retain the potentials to differentiate into any type of adult cells including neuronal series. More or less simultaneously it was demonstrated that contrary to the prevailing belief, neurogenesis continues throughout life even in humans, at least in certain regions of the brain. Not surprisingly, this has lead to active research in the field with the hope of exploiting this knowledge for replacement of lost or degenerating neurons. This review is an attempt to summarize the current knowledge and future areas of research.