Separate brain-development paths help researchers grow human brainstem neurons

Stanford Medicine-led researchers found that the front and back of the brain develop from distinct starting cells, challenging the idea that both come from a single cell population. Studying mouse embryos, they traced two separate developmental paths that did not overlap. The finding helped the team grow functional human hindbrain motor neurons from stem cells in the laboratory. These nerve cells control muscles involved in facial movement and swallowing, and their loss is part of diseases including ALS and spinal muscular atrophy. Published September 18 in Nature Neuroscience, the work gives researchers a way to study cells they cannot readily obtain from living patients.