Stem Cells Restore Memory in Mice

At the University of California, Irvine, a rodent's memory was brought back up to healthy levels after 3 months. Even though we know that stem cells may come in handy when treating diseases which cause loss of motor function, this study reveals that stem cells might even bring back memory. In this study, the scientists used mice which develop brain lesions, then destroy cells in the hippocampus which are related to memory. After they did this, the rats with the destroyed cells were more likely to forget. Then, researchers placed 200,000 neural stem cells into each mouse and the mice were able to remember things just as well as the normal mice. It was also noted in this study that stem cells injected into healthy mice travelled throughout the brain, while those injected into poor memory mice migrated to the hippocampus, suggesting that these stem cells repaired the damage rather than replacing the cells.
http://health.msn.com/centers/alzheimers/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100173445