Learned to walk a paralyzed monkey :

Scientists have grown from iPS-derived cells to human skin, nerve cells, which were then transplanted monkey-marmozetke with spinal cord injury. The monkey was almost totally paralyzed: it functioned normally only the muscles of the head and neck.

Already after 10 days in the monkey were seen weak limb movements, and six weeks after the start of the experiment she was able to walk independently, completely restored the ability to compress and decompress the brush.

As we know, has not yet found cures for patients who have lost motor abilities due to injury. Japanese scientists have come as close to the problem of healing of such patients in the experiment with similar human primates.

Eighteen months ago, Professor Okano achieved similar results with a paralyzed mouse, taught her to walk a month after cell transplantation. Recall the first artificial multi stem cells neembrionalnogo origin, the so-called induced pluripotent stem cells.

Scientists have managed to create stem cells from ordinary human skin cells. This discovery removed the pre-existing ethical problem of using human embryonic stem cells and gave the prospects of creating tissues and organs to replace damaged or lost due to sickness or injury. Building material for these organs and tissue cells become a person.

In the four years since the establishment of iPS-cell researchers, subjecting them to various influences, learned how to grow heart muscle cells, intestine, pancreas, retina, blood, skin and nerve cells. The main problem hampering the use of such cells in medicine, remains a high risk of developing cancer.