Neural restoration

It can be concluded therefore, that different HA hydrogels should be good materials for regulating the fate of NSC, indicating they have bright prospects for applications in NSC and tissue engineering for neural restoration. 

Regarding the adrenal steroids, the behavioral activation of hormonal secretion in stress is part of a mechanism for restoring homeostatic balance. For example, an encounter with a predator may require rapid evasive action, in which neural activity and rapidly mobilized hormones such as epinephrine play a role. Adrenal steroid secretion is slower, reaching a peak minutes after the stressful event, and therefore is not expected to play a role in coping with the immediate situation. If the evasive action is successful and... 

By using tiny probes as neural prostheses, scientists may be able to restore nerve function in quadriplegics and make the blind see or the deaf hear. Thanks to advanced techniques, a single, small, implanted probe can stimulate individual neurons electrically or chemically and then record responses. Preliminary results suggest that the microprobe telemetry systems can be permanently implanted and replace damaged or missing nerves. 

Brooks, D.J. Monitoring neuroprotection and restorative therapies in Parkinson s disease with PET. J. Neural Transm. Suppl. 60, 125-137, 2000. 

General outlines of the cellular actions of sympathomimetics are presented in Tables 6-3 and 9-3. Sympathomimetics have prominent cardiovascular effects because of widespread distribution of a and 3 adrenoceptors in the heart, blood vessels, and neural and hormonal systems involved in blood pressure regulation. The net effect of a given sympathomimetic in the intact organism depends not only on its relative selectivity for cx or 3 adrenoceptors and its pharmacologic action at those receptors any effect these agents have on blood pressure is counteracted by compensatory baroreflex mechanisms aimed at restoring homeostasis. 

Horrocks L. A. and Farooqui A. A. (2004). Docosahexaenoic acid in the diet its importance in maintenance and restoration of neural membrane function. Prostaglandins Leukot. Essent. Fatty... 

The most welcome technical achievements in life science are the ones that enhance well-being or restore impaired or lost biological functions. Rehabilitation engineering is a research field that has devoted its full spectrum of efforts to compensate for malfunctions and disorders in human biological systems. This includes the development of devices for the rehabilitation of neural disorders which are termed neural prostheses. Neural prostheses directly interface with the central and peripheral nervous system. The most commonly known neural prosthesis is the cardiac pacemaker, which has existed for more than 30 years. A variety of other lesser known devices have been developed to partially restore neural functions in disabled people. 

We foresee a tremendous progress in the development of neural prostheses in the next 20 years. Developments will focus on microimplants that could help neurally impaired people to restore activities of daily life. 

Today, with the exception of bone marrow for hematopoietic reconstitution, therapeutic cellular transplantation is an emerging technology. In recent years novel approaches in the potential restoration of function through cellular transplantation have included the use of fetal human or xenogeneic neural tissue for Parkinson s disease, ectopically implanted pancreatic islets for diabetes, Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing glia for spinal cord injury, encapsulated chromaffin cells for pain, and various types of stem cells for the treatment of diabetes, cardiac disease, and central nervous system injuries or disease [2], There have also been trials of encapsulated cells to provide enzymes that either remove toxic products or provide activation of prodrugs to therapeutics, usually anticancer derivatives. 

NSCs isolated from fetal nervous tissue have the potential to differentiate into all types of nervous system cells, including neurons, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes, so NSCs also have the capacity to replace damaged tissue in both the CNS and PNS. NSCs will restore functional neurons and glia and regenerate injured tissue. It is this characteristic of neural stem cells that makes them a potentially valuable transplantation material in a host of disorders. 

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