Scientists have uncovered a new method for culturing adult stem cells which could help in developing therapy for conditions such as arthritis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

A nanopatterned plastic surface, developed and fabricated at the University of Glasgow, is designed to offer a method of stem cell expansion which is much easier to manufacture and use than anything currently available.

Created by an injection-moulding process similar to the method used to produce Blu-ray discs, the surface is covered with 120-nanometre pits.

Researchers at the universities of Glasgow and Southampton have found the process more effective in allowing stem cells, taken from sources such as bone marrow, to grow and spread without losing their characteristics.

They believe the new nanoscale plastic could cheaply and easily make the expansion of stem cells for therapeutic purposes possible.

Currently, adult stem cells are cultured in the lab to increase the initial yield of cells and create a batch big enough to kick-start the process of cellular regeneration when they are reintroduced back into the patient.

However, the process of culturing is made more difficult by spontaneous stem cell differentiation.

This occurs when stem cells grown on standard plastic tissue culture surfaces do not expand to create new stem cells but instead create other cells which are of no use in therapy.

They can be immersed in chemical solutions to help increase the overall yield of stem cells but are limited in their effectiveness, the scientists said.

Matthew Dalby, from the University of Glasgow, who led the research, said: “What we and our colleagues at the University of Southampton have shown is that this new nanostructured surface can be used to very effectively culture mesencyhmal stem cells, taken from sources such as bone marrow, which can then be put to use in musculoskeletal, orthopaedic and connective tissues.

“If the same process can be used to culture other types of stem cells too, and this research under way in our labs, our technology could be the first step on the road to developing large-scale stem cell culture factories which would allow for the creation of a wide range of therapies for many common diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.”

The research is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and is published in the journal Nature Materials.