A handful of recently released reports indicate that the researchers have become able to find out a backup supply of stem cells, proficient to repair the most severe damage to the olfactory nerves responsible for the sense of smell of living beings. The entire research is being funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

It has been avowed in this regard by the scientists, that the reserve cells normally lie around doing nothing, but with the death of neighboring cells the stem cells jump into action.

The research paper states that while the only nerve cells in the body are running directly from the brain to the outside world, the olfactory cells are under continuous assault from harsh chemicals that one might happen to catch a whiff of by accident, risking damage or death. The Reed’s team has worked tirelessly in exposing the mouse olfactory nerves to a cloud of toxic methyl-bromide gas while figuring out how the olfactory system repairs severely damaged nerve cells. The Methyl bromide kills not only olfactory nerve cells in due process but also neighboring, non-nerve cells in the nasal passage. Again after chemical exposure of three weeks, the researchers examined nasal cells to identify which, if any, had grown back. What they discovered was that the newly grown cells, both nerve and non-nerve, grew from HBCs-a population of cells not previously known for repair abilities.

Commenting on the development, the lead author Dr. Randall Reed, the Professor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University said, “These stem cells act like the army reserves of our nose, supporting a class of active-duty stem cells that help repair normal wear and tear. They don’t come in until things are really bad.” He also added, “We were stunned because HBCs normally don’t grow much or do anything. And the most surprising thing is that HBCs can grow into both nerves and non-nerve cells; they do so by generating the other active type of nasal stem cell.”

The team has been found to go back and look at nerve repair under less damaging circumstances where only the olfactory nerve cells are killed. The HBCs did nothing to repair the damaged cells; whereas, they allowed the stem cells known previously to do all the repair work.