In two papers published in June and July of 2009, investigators in the Koliatsos Lab have shown that ex vivo and human embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived neural stem cells differentiate into neurons and engage in circuit formation in the adult mammalian spinal cord and brain (Xu et al, J Comp Neurol 2009; 514:297-309; Nasonkin et al, Stem Cells 2009; 27: 2414-26). The neuronally differentiated stem cells form structurally mature, mostly inhibitory, synapses with host neurons in the ventral horn and the forebrain. This work sets the stage for circuit repair in a variety of traumatic and degenerative diseases.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/stem_cell_research/coaxing_cells/its_all_about_networking.html