LOS ANGELES, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have discovered significant variations between neurons from two embryonic stem cell lines, suggesting not all such cell lines are equal.
The study -- led by UCLA biologist Yi Sun and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Thomas Sudhof at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center -- compared neurons generated from two National Institutes of Health-approved embryonic stem cell lines. The differences found in the mature, functioning neurons generated from each line implies culture conditions during cell generation -- which have yet to be identified -- can influence the developmental properties of human embryonic stem cells, the researchers said.
Sun, Sudhof and colleagues also developed a new technique for producing functioning neurons from stem cells that they said will be important for creating models of human neurodegenerative diseases.
The research is reported in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
