Found this article on the BBC Health site:
Spinal injury reversed in the lab
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1281000/1281949.stm
This article does not mention the method of cloning but I looked on the web
page of the researcher interviewed and found that the ability of peripheral
nerve cells to regenerate is being used to restore central nervous system
function. However, it is not clear whether or not the method of cloning is
being used:
Nerve fibre growth and regeneration in the nervous system.
"An alternative approach to inducing nerve fibre regeneration in the brain
and
spinal cord is to replace the local CNS glial cells with those from the
peripheral nerves, where nerve fibres regenerate successfully. As a
demonstration that this method could be a used to repair brain damage, we
have
cut the nerve fibre tract from the substantia nigra, which results in an
experimental model with parkinsonian motor deficits. By grafting a track of
peripheral nerve glial cells we have enabled the cut nigral nerve fibres to
regrow and partially correct the deficits. We have used the same technique
to
enable nerve fibres from grafts of embryonic brain tissue to grow for long
distances through the adult brain, raising the possibility of repairing
complex brain circuitry with a combination of embryonic brain grafts and
glial
cell grafts."
http://www.brc.cam.ac.uk/people/jwf/jfawcett.html
Bob Clark
>===== Original Message From Robert Clark <rgclark at MailAndNews.com> =====
>Found the attached post dating from 1997 by searching on
>groups.google.com. I've heard that neural cells have been
>produced by using embryonic stem cells. Does anyone know if the
>method of cloning neurons by implanting the nucleus in peripheral
>nerve cells has been used?
>> There is opposition to cloning people on ethical grounds and
>also because of the large numbers of failures you get before a
>success and many of the successes happen to have physical problems.
>However, the second method of generating neurons by cloning someone
>and only allowing the clone to develop to the embryo stage would
>not seem to have these same problems. Many embryos are already made
>and discarded in in vitro fertilization. And you would not be
>concerned about the health problems of a full grown individual.
>>> Bob Clark
>>>*************************************************************
>From: Robert Clark (rclark at op.net)
>Subject: Applications of the Cloning Method II
>Newsgroups: sci.bio.technology, alt.bio.technology.cloning,
>bionet.microbiology, sci.bio.microbiology, sci.bio.misc,
>sci.bio.technology, alt.med.cure-paralysis, sci.med
>Date: 1997/04/17
>> In a prior post to sci.bio.technology, I suggested that the
>method the Roslin researchers used may be applicable to treating
>brain and spinal cord injuries. The idea being that the embryonic
>cell only needed the surrounding embyonic cell material, not its
>original embyonic nucleus to divide and differentiate as a normal
>embryo.
> I suggested that the nucleus of a CNS neuron be implanted into
>the type of nerve cell that does have the capacity to regenerate,
>generally peripheral nerve cells, to see if the result is able to
>generate copies of the CNS neuron.
> There is, however, a more direct way to generate copies of CNS
>neurons. That is to duplicate the Roslin method for the subject
>whose CNS cells are to be replaced, except remove the developing
>embryo once the CNS neurons have sufficiently differentiated.
> How long does it take for example for spinal cord neurons to
>reach the stage where they are pretty much set in their adult form?
>>> Bob Clark
>*****************************************************************
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