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Cranial irradiation during cancer treatment often is followed by some degree of cognitive impairment, probably because radiation destroys stem cells in the hippocampus. Researchers in California investigated whether stem cell therapy could reverse radiation-induced impairment in rats.
Athymic rats were exposed to real or sham irradiation of the brain, followed by injection into the hippocampus of either human embryonic stem cells or sterile medium (sham injection). Four weeks later, all rats underwent a series of established tests of cognition. Compared with rats that received sham irradiation and sham treatment, rats that received real irradiation but sham treatment exhibited markedly impaired cognition. The irradiated rats that received st…