NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new study, Canadian researchers describe the development of mature neurons from human adult skin-derived precursor cells. They believe these cells could serve a number of therapeutic applications.

The ability to generate neurons from skin-derived precursor cells would be a highly efficient means of producing neurons to treat various degenerative diseases, according to the report in the Journal of Cellular Physiology for February.

In the study, Dr. Francois Berthod, from the University of Laval in Quebec, and colleagues isolated neuronal precursor cells from breast skin and then expanded them in vitro.

Tests of the cells after 7 days of maturation revealed the presence of several markers that indicated the cells had become terminally differentiated neurons. Retesting at 50 days showed that these markers were still present.

"The generation of autologous neurons from an accessible adult human source opens many potential therapeutic applications and has a great potential for the development of experimental studies on normal human neurons," the researchers conclude.