Dormant Brain Stem Cells

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Forbes reports on scientific investigations into adult stem cells in the brain. "The activation of dormant stem cells in the patient's own brain could someday allow doctors to re-grow lost cells without resorting to surgery, and in ways that target exactly those areas of the brain -- and specific types of cells -- damaged by disease. ... While stem cells sourced from embryos or bone marrow have received the most media attention, residual amounts of these regenerative cells exist throughout the body. According to Mehler, about 0.3 percent of brain cells may be dormant stem cells. Just why they so often remain dormant -- even when the brain experiences injury -- remains a mystery."

Link: http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/03/14/hscout524474.html