This research, with the potential to help thousands of stroke patients, is among developments being discussed by the world’s leading stem-cell scientists in Edinburgh this week.

The UK National Stem Cell Network science conference will also debate the ethical issues surrounding stem cells, which have the ability to develop into any tissue type.

About 14,000 people suffer a stroke in Scotland each year. It is the third most common cause of death and the leading cause of severe disability.

The researchers, from the Institute of Psychiatry in London and Nottingham University, are using neural stem cells derived from aborted rodent foetuses to tackle stroke damage. These cells are combined with microscopic organic compounds which act as scaffolding to fill in the gaps in the brain caused when someone suffers a stroke.

“What we hope to do is fill in the gaps where tissue has been lost, helping to improve function in the patient,” said researcher Dr Mike Modo.

“The ultimate aim is to establish if this approach can provide a more efficient and effective repair process in stroke.”

Just last week, the researchers inserted the stem cell scaffolding into the brains of rats. They expect to find out if they have been successful in the next four to five months.

Dr Modo said eventually the researchers would like to develop the technique for use in human stroke victims.

“It is very difficult to predict how long it will take, but we would hope to start thinking about how we can take this forward in patients within the next three to four years,” he said.

The conference in Edinburgh comes amid fierce debate about the ethical issues around stem cell research, including concerns about animal-human hybrid embryos. The Catholic Church has condemned such research, labelling it as being of “Frankenstein proportions”.

But researchers yesterday dismissed such comments.

Dr Willy Lensch, a stem cell scientist from the Children’s Hospital in Boston in the United States, said: “People are talking Frankensteins walking around. But we are not talking about people walking around or putting these cells into the womb for gestation.

“We are talking about technical schemes to create cells for study in the lab and not more than that.

“I would share the abhorrence of using some of these technologies to find a new way to make people, but that is not what we are talking about.”

• The UK National Stem Cell Network Science Meeting runs at the Edinburgh Conference Centre until tomorrow.

HEART OF THE MATTER

HEART cells developed from embryonic stem cells could help repair the damage caused by a heart attack, researchers said yesterday.

Professor Christine Mummery, a stem-cell researcher in th

e Netherlands, said they were testing the technique in mice and pigs. But while results had been promising in the short term, the method had yet to repair the damaged heart in the long term.

Another step would be to create billions of cells to graft on to a heart. At the moment, they can be produced only in millions – enough for a mouse.

BOOST FOR CANCER HOPE

SCIENTISTS have discovered how stem-cell development can cause cancer, bringing hope of new treatments.

Researchers from Cardiff University and Glasgow University studied how stem cells naturally repair damage in the intestines.

They found that if a gene known as Apc was lost or damaged, the stem cells were no longer controlled and grew in number until they ultimately caused a tumour.

The finding could give new clues to creating stem-cell therapies which will not have a cancerous side-effect.