Through treating everything from strokes to car accident traumas, neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch knows the brain's inability to repair itself all too well. But now, she suggests, she and her colleagues may have found the key to neural repair: Doublecortin-positive cells. Similar to stem cells, they are extremely adaptable and, when extracted from a brain, cultured and then re-injected in a lesioned area of the same brain, they can help repair and rebuild it. "With a little help," Bloch says, "the brain may be able to help itself."

Jocelyne Bloch: The brain may be able to repair itself -- with help

The brain may be able to repair itself -- with help

Discovering brain's self-repair potential, scientists found stem cell-like cells in brain tissue, hinting at neural regeneration.

Monkeys' lesioned brains showed significant recovery post re-implantation of cultured brain cells, illuminating hope for humans.

Navigating regulatory hurdles is the next frontier before this groundbreaking brain repair technique can be applied in humans.