Astrocytes cultivated in lab

[KofQ]

By Jennifer Welsh
LiveScience
updated 5/22/2011 4:20:13 PM ET 2011-05-22T20:20:13

The most common brain cell, called the astrocyte, is often overlooked in the face of its cousin, the neuron. Researchers are finally realizing their importance and have, for the first time, been able to grow them in the lab.
"Not a lot of attention has been paid to these cells because human astrocytes have been hard to get," study researcher Su-Chun Zhang, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "But we can make billions or trillions of them from a single stem cell."




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43128236...ience-science/