Spinal cord injury neural stem cell transplants

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. 

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). 

Ikegami, T., Nakamura, M., Yamane, J., Katoh, H., Okada, S., Iwanami, A., Watanabe, K., Ishii, K., Kato, F., Fujita, H., Takahashi, T., Okano, H.J., Toyama, Y., Okano, H., 2005. Chondroitase ABC combined with neural stem/progenitor cell transplantation enhances graft cell migration and outgrowth of growth-associated protein-43-positive fibers after rat spinal cord injury. Eur. J. Neurosci. 22 (12), 3036—3046. 

Tang, S., Liao, X., Shi, B., Qu, Y., Huang, Z., Lin, Q., Guo, X., Pei, F., 2014. The effects of controlled release of neurotrophin-3 from PCLA scaffolds on the survival and neuronal differentiation of transplanted neural stem cells in a rat spinal cord injury model. PLoS One 9 (9), el07517. 

Hawryluk, G.W.J., Mothe, A., Wang, J., Wang, S., Tator, C., and Fehlings, M.G. 2012. An in vivo eharaclerization of trophic factor production following neural precursor cell or bone marrow stromal cell transplantation for spinal cord injury. Stem Cells and Development. 21(12), 2222-2238. doi 10.1089/scd.2011.0596. 

Abematsu, M., Tsujimura, K., Yamano, M., Saito, M., Kohno, K., Kohyama, J., Namihira, M., Komiya, S., and Nakashima, K. 2010. Neurons derived from transplanted neural stem cells restore disrupted neuronal circuitry in a mouse model of spinal cord injury. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 120 3255-66. 

Zahir, T., Nomura, H., Guo, X. D., Kim, H., Tator, C., Morshead, C., and Shoichet, M. 2008. Bioengineering neural stem/progenitor ceU-coated tubes for spinal cord injury repair. Cell Transplant, 17 245-54. Zhao, C., Deng, W., and Gage, F. H. 2008. Mechanisms and functional implications of adult neurogenesis. Cell, 132 645-60. 

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