Neural stem cell transplants

Yandava, B. D., Billinghurst, L. L. and Snyder, E. Y. Global cell replacement is feasible via neural stem cell transplantation evidence from the dysmyelinated shiverer mouse brain. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96 7029-7034,1999. 

Nishida, A., Takahashi, M., Tanihara, H., Nakano, I., Takahashi, J.B., Mizoguchi, A., Ide, C., Honda, Y. (2000). Incorporation and differentiation of hippocampus-derived neural stem cells transplanted in injured adult rat retina. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 41, 4268-74. 

Bible, E, Chau, DYS, Alexander, MR et al. 2009. The support of neural stem cells transplanted into stroke-induced brain cavities by PLGA particles. Biomaterials 30(16) 2985-2994. 

Tate, C. C., Shear, D. A., Tate, M. C., Archer, D. R., Stein, D. G., and Laplaca, M. C. 2009. Laminin and fibronectin scaffolds enhance neural stem cell transplantation into the injured brain. / Tissue Eng Regen Med, 3 208-17. 

Volume II, Embryonic and Adult Stem Cells, provides an analysis of various types of stem cells and their therapeutic potential. It concentrates particularly on embryonic and neural stem cells. This volume covers the broader potential of adult stem cells its biology, significance and potential for therapy. This volume also describes the potential of stem cells for autologous transplantation, the stem cell theory of carcinogenesis, particularly the existence of brain tumor stem cells, and the therapeutic potential of gene therapy for cell-based therapy. 

Boockvar, J.A., Schouten, J., Royo, N., Millard, M., Spangler, Z., Castelbuono, D., Snyder, E., O Rourke, D., McIntosh, T. (2005). Experimental traumatic brain injury modulates the survival, migration, and terminal phenotype of transplanted epidermal growth factor receptor-activated neural stem cells. Neurosurgery, 56,163-71. 

B.C., Snyder, E.Y., Sladek, J.R. Jr. (2005). Neural stem cells implanted into MPTP-treated monkeys increase the size of endogenous tyrosine hydroxylase-positive cells found in the striatum a return to control measures. Cell Transplant, 14, 183-92. 

Cell-specific expression of reporter genes in EGF-responsive neural stem cells derived from transgenic mice. Hammang, J.P., Duncan, I.D., Messing, A. (1994). Cell Transplantation, 3 (3) 230. 

Transplanted human fetal neural stem cells survive, migrate, and differentiate in ischemic rat cerebral cortex. Kelly, S., Bliss, T.M., Shah, A.K., Sun, G.H., Ma, M., Foo,... 

Brain transplantation of human neural stem cells in mouse model of Batten s disease. Basu, S B., Belichenko, P.V., Uchida, N., Tamaki, S., Eckert, K., Udani, V., Tsukamoto, A., Mobley, W.C. (2003). Abstr SocNeurosci, 335.7. 

III. Transplantation of Neural Stem Cells and Gene Therapy in the Brain Ischemia... 

The implications of sprouting of the dopamine neurons as models for the repair of the nervous system are evident. Similarly, the importance of an understanding of the factors that contribute to and regulate the phenotype of repairing neurons is also clear. This information will be essential in understanding how neurons may participate in both plasticity and repair as well as in the deployment of transplanted neural stem cells. 

Observations of metabolic cross-correction provided the rationale for cellular replacement, achieved primarily through allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell or bone transplantation (HSCT) (Prasad and Kurtzberg, 2008). More recently, the use of neural stem cells (NSC) implanted in the brain of patients with late-infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis has been contemplated (Pierret et al., 2008) but there are no reports as yet of its potential efficacy. Within the central nervous system there must be proper integration of donor cells, and differentiation into appropriate cell types. As specialized cell types within the nervous system elaborate neurotransmitters and are involved with conducting electrical impulses, functional differentiation may be a major hurdle for the neurodegenerative LSDs. 

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. 

The potential application of neural stem cells for spinal cord injury has been investigated by numerous studies. It has been reported that neural stem cells induced to neuronal differentiation by neurogenin-2 provided significant functional benefit following transplantation after contusion injury (Hof-stetter et al., 2005). Further, undifferentiated cells can achieve the regional appropriate phenotype specification in response to local signals in exclusive niches (Gage, 2000). 

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