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Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS could be treated with the help of a new, lab-grown, neural network.
A team from Rutgers University, in a study published in Nature Communications, injected neural networks into damaged mice brains - a process that could help with treatment of such diseases.
The process was a "promising platform", the team said.
The process, which researchers refer to as "3D micro-scaffolding", has several stages. Neurons are grown in a lab by exposing stem cells to proteins, meaning they develop into neurons. These neurons grow inside the 'scaffold' of polymer fibres and are subsequently injected, as a network, into the brain.
Several neurons, and neural networks, were injected into diseased mice brains. The researchers found that networks, rather than individual neurons, were far better at surviving in the brain - 40 percent more likely to survive, in some cases. "This is a promising new platform that could make the transplantation of neurons a viable treatment for a broad range of human neurodegenerative disorders," the team wrote.
Though the team is as yet unsure how the neural networks will prevent the progression of the disease, they are hopeful that it will help treat the damage caused by degenerative diseases.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
