During the experiments with the help of stem cells it was possible to restore hearing and sight to guinea pigs and tadpoles, which brings closer to the possibility of similar treatment of people, say American and South Korean scientists.

Specialists have established that guinea pigs, whose hearing is completely absent, begin to hear after stem cell transplantation. And blind tadpoles, which do not react at all to light, under the influence of a similar procedure begin to react to light.

Scientists believe that embryonic stem cells stimulate the replacement of dead cells with functionally effective corresponding visual or auditory nerve cells.

In the first case, specialists used guinea pigs for human stem cells derived from the human bone marrow. This suggests that in the process of differentiation from stem cells into functionally active cells of any origin - human or animal - there are common mechanisms.

In the second case we are talking about stem embryonic cells obtained from the skin of frogs.

It is known that seven special growth factors were used in the process of their cultivation, which activated the genes responsible for visual perception. And then, when a suspension of such cells was injected into a frog embryo, live, healthy tadpoles were born that react to light, unlike embryos where these chemicals were suppressed by chemical substances. This discovery is comparable to a miracle, say scientists. If experiments on humans are to be held as successfully, it will be possible to solve the problem of poor hearing and sight, experts stressed..

Medicinform. Net.

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