S tern Cells for Transplant Therapy

Embryonic stem cells can proliferate indefinitely and under certain condition they can differentiate to neurons and gha in the laboratory. Even though they hold the promise of being able to repair or replace cells or tissues that are damaged or destroyed in neurodegenerative disorders, transplantation of embryonic stem cells is not feasible with current techniques. The lines of 

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. 

Progress in Stem Cell Therapy in Neurological Disorders 

While the current research focuses on dopaminergic neurons, non-dopaminergic degeneration is also an important part of Parkinson s disease pathology. It remains to be established whether it is favorable to implant a pure population of dopaminergic neurons or whether the graft should also contain a specific mix of other neuron types and glial cells to induce maximum symptomatic relief. 

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