New molecule helps nerve stem cells mature

DALLAS, June 17 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have created a small molecule that stimulates nerve stem cells to begin maturing into nerve cells in culture.

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researchers said the finding might someday allow a person's own nerve stem cells to be grown outside the body, stimulated into maturity and then re-implanted as working nerve cells to treat various diseases.

"This provides a critical starting point for neuro-regenerative medicine and brain cancer chemotherapy," said Assistant Professor Jenny Hsieh, senior author of the study.

The creation of the molecule allowed the researchers to uncover some of the biochemical steps that occur as nerve cells mature. It also showed large-scale screening of compounds can provide starting points for developing drugs to treat disorders such as Huntington's disease, traumatic brain injury or cancer.

The research appears in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.