New research has shown that testicles could be a new source for viable non-embryonic stem cells. The very thought of testicular biopsies, resonating through the editorial staff of Medgadget, calls for a continued search for other methods to obtain stem cells.

The new stem cells, known as human adult germline stem cells (GSCs), were grown by researchers in Germany and the U.K. by adding special growth factors to spermatogonial cells extracted from testes. Spermatogonial cells are stem cells in the adult testis that normally generate only one type of differentiated cell (sperm). But with the right growth factors, these spermatogonial cells can change to become pluripotent. They begin to produce proteins normally made by embryonic stem cells and acquire the ability to differentiate into many different cell types.
In a paper published today in Nature, Thomas Skutella of the University of Tubingen, in Germany, and his colleagues raise the possibility that adult GSCs could overcome many of the hurdles still facing alternative approaches.

More from MIT Technology Review…
Image: Testicular transformation: Stem cells from adult human testes normally produce only sperm, but when cultured in the lab with special growth factors, they begin to resemble embryonic stem cells and can differentiate into many adult cell types. Credit: Thomas Skutella

At Bucknell University Mark Haussmann has been studying the DNA of storm-petrels, seabirds that have unusually long lives.
From a Bucknell press release:

Mark Haussmann, an assistant professor of biology at Bucknell University, was interested in aging and why some animals live longer, healthier lives while others survive only a few years. Haussmann studied cacti and turtles before zeroing in on a small, marine bird that contradicts traditional assumptions about aging.
“Leach’s storm-petrels should die young but live a long life and break the conventional rules,” he said. “First of all, they’re small, and there tends to be a relationship between body size and life span. Elephants live longer than humans. Humans live longer than mice. So this bird shouldn’t live long, but it does.”
Haussmann, 33, stumbled upon some groundbreaking information in his work. His studies of storm-petrels have shown that certain characteristics of DNA – specifically lengths of the protective telomeres at the tips of DNA – are associated with species that live longer lives and possibly with how susceptible they are to cancer-causing tumors.
His work could be used as a springboard for drug companies studying cell division and cancer-treating drugs.

Full story: Sea birds’ DNA may hold keys to aging and cancer, researcher says…
Abstract: Telomeres and Longevity: Testing an Evolutionary Hypothesis Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msm244
Image: Storm-petrel

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the University of Helsinki have collaborated on a project that identified prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), as an excellent protein for pain suppression. The protein appears to be eight times more effective at suppressing pain than morphine.

To study the transmission of painful signals throughout the body, many researchers use “marker” proteins that label pain-sensing neurons. One such marker, FRAP (fluoride-resistant acid phosphatase), has been employed for this purpose for nearly 50 years, but the gene that codes for its production was never identified.
That is, until researchers at UNC found that FRAP is identical to PAP (prostatic acid phosphatase), a protein routinely used to diagnose prostate cancer whose levels increase in the blood of patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
Previous research hinted that FRAP and PAP may have a shared identity. To determine whether or not this was the case, Zylka teamed up with Dr. Pirkko Vihko, a professor from the University of Helsinki who had genetically engineered mice that were missing the gene for PAP. When Zylka and his colleagues studied tissues from these mutant mice, they were happy to see that FRAP activity was missing. This revealed that the two proteins were in fact identical.
Further, the mutant mice proved more sensitive than normal mice to inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain, two common forms of chronic pain in humans. These increased sensitivities diminished when researchers injected excess amounts of PAP into the spinal cords of the mutant mice.
“We were really blown away that a simple injection could have such a potent effect on pain,” Zylka said. “Not only that, but it appeared to work much better than the commonly used drug morphine.”
The new protein suppressed pain as effectively as morphine but for substantially longer. One dose of PAP lasted for up to three days, much longer than the five hours gained with a single dose of morphine.
The next question for the researchers was how PAP suppressed pain. It is already known that when pain-sensing neurons are stimulated, they release chemicals known as nucleotides, specifically adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This in turn sets off the events that invoke a painful sensation. But if ATP degrades to adenosine, that inhibits the neurons that transmit pain signals, thus relieving pain. Through a series of experiments, the UNC researchers showed that PAP removes the phosphate group, generating adenosine.

Press release: UNC study: cell protein suppresses pain eight times more effectively than morphine
Image: Prostatic acid phosphatase