Untapped Potential

After disease or injury, stem cells help repair damage by replacing lost cells. Many organs have latent stem cells that lie in wait and spring into action should any trauma occur. Whether they exist in the central nervous system (CNS) was unclear. Now researchers have found such a group in mice, that develop early in the embryo and spread from the brain to the end of the spinal cord. These normally inactive stem cells leap into action when the spinal cord is injured, moving towards the damaged area, dividing and crucially creating all three main cell types of the CNS, oligodendrocytes, neurons and astrocytes (pictured). It remains to be seen whether these stem cells exist in humans. If they do, it may one day be possible to activate them therapeutically for brain and spinal cord injuries, which are particularly difficult to treat.

Written by Sophie Arthur

Sophie Arthur

former Science Communications Officer MRC LMS

Formerly a stem cell biologist, Sophie has since moved into science communication working at the MRC LMS. She also writes an award winning science and education blog Soph talks science.

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• Image from work by Bruno Frederico and colleagues
• Immunobiology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Developmental Cell. August 2022