Study: Adult stem cells don't regenerate

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- An University of California study suggests only embryo stem cells have the potential to regenerate ailing organs and not those from adult bone marrow.

The new results are significant, the San Francisco scientists said, because earlier research had been used by opponents of human embryo research to argue embryo studies were unnecessary, the Washington Post reported.

The study, led by neurobiologist Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, is the most thorough attempt yet. If the new results are confirmed, it might result in more government support for embryo stem cell research.

James F. Battey Jr., chairman of the Stem Cell Task Force at the National Institutes of Health, said the study cleared up confusion in the field.

"It's as carefully done a piece of work as I've seen," he said.

Their work, appears in this week's advance online edition of the journal Nature.