Exosomes derived from stem cells have the potential to regenerate damaged brain cells, and could someday be used for to treat brain damage and neural degeneration diseases, researchers from the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) said yesterday.
Team leader Li Hua-jung (李華容), an associate investigator at the Institute of Cellular and System Medicine, told a news conference in Taipei that brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases often cause irreversible impairment for patients, and increase the risk of dementia.
More than 270,000 people in Taiwan are estimated to have dementia, which is a big challenge to the nation’s aging society, she said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Traumatic brain injury, unhealthy habits, hypertension, diabetes, long-term stress or mental illness are all potential risk factors for brain damage and neurodegenerative disease, she said.
Although clinical studies have suggested that stem cells have the potential to repair a damaged central nervous system, there are risks of complications from implantation, ectopic tissue formation and unwanted engraftment, Li said.
Her team spent seven years studying alternatives, and discovered that exosomes secreted by mesenchymal stem cells found in human bone marrow or fat tissues contain substances that can facilitate cranial nerve regeneration and brain functional recovery.
The exosomes are tiny vesicles that contain genetic information and biologically active substances, including proteins, RNA and other substances, and serve as mediators in cell-to-cell communication, she said.
As exosomes do not have a nucleus and will not grow after implantation, using them in therapy might reduce many of the safety concerns related to the use of living stem cells, she said.
After injecting such exosomes into brain-damaged mice, the team found that after a week the mice’s damaged nerve cells gradually grew synapses, and after a month the number of nerve cells in the damaged brain area was restored to about 60 percent, with the mice showing improvement in cognition, learning and memory.
The study showed that stem cell-derived exosomes have the potential to treat brain damage and neural degeneration diseases, and could possibly be developed for treating degenerative diseases, tissue or organ damage, cell deficiency, Parkinson’s disease or other diseases, Li said, adding that the team has patented their discovery in Taiwan and is applying for patents in the US, the UK and Japan.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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