A team at Edinburgh University managed to turn embryonic stem cells into stable nerve stem cells used in the brain by adding a cocktail of chemicals.

The "brain in a bottle" will assist in developing drugs to combat diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's and may eventually enable doctors to repair damage to the brain. The process has already been patented and an Edinburgh-based company is set to develop commercial applications for the research.

Focus on Nerve Cell Growth

However, other scientists said it would be "highly irresponsible" to create the false hope for patients that the research was even close to growing transplants for such a complex organ as the brain.

Edinburgh University gained one of the first licenses in the UK to carry out medical experiments with embryonic stem cells -- cells from an early embryo that can grow into any cell in the body.

Their experiment focused on making the embryonic stem cells turn into a particular adult cell, in this case nerve cells, which are integral to the brain and central nervous system.

Previous attempts at creating the nerve cells have produced contaminated samples mixed with other cells that have not been scientifically useful.

Dr. Steve Pollard, one of the Edinburgh researchers, said it was an important step forward.

"It is the first proof of principle of converting embryonic stem cells into more restricted tissue stem cells -- brain stem cells," he said.

Replacement Brain Tissue?

Dr. Pollard said the ability to grow human brain cells in the laboratory will prove useful in developing drugs to protect such cells against degenerative brain diseases like Huntington's and Parkinson's, without resorting to testing on animals.

Also, because the cells grow in a form without the wrong tissue that would create a tumor, they could be used to grow replacement brain tissue for people with neurological disorders.

However, Neville Cobbe, of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh, warned patients not to get their hopes up over "brain transplants" considering the sheer complexity of the organ.

"It is a huge leap from expanding stem cells in culture to rebuilding the brain of a patient with Alzheimer's disease, and to instill false hope in patients and their families or caregivers would be highly irresponsible," he said.