Stem cells for the treatment of neurological disorders

Abstract

Many common neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, stroke and multiple sclerosis, are caused by a loss of neurons and glial cells. In recent years, neurons and glia have been generated successfully from stem cells in culture, fueling efforts to develop stem-cell-based transplantation therapies for human patients. More recently, efforts have been extended to stimulating the formation and preventing the death of neurons and glial cells produced by endogenous stem cells within the adult central nervous system. The next step is to translate these exciting advances from the laboratory into clinically useful therapies.

Generation of human cortical neurons from a new immortal fetal neural stem cell line

“…Recent progress in stem cell research suggests that neurons suitable for intracerebral transplantation can be generated from in vitro expanded stem cells isolated from different sources, and that stem cell-based therapy could be a future strategy for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders (for review see [1][2][3]. Multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs) have been identified and isolated from mammalian central nervous system [4][5][6] including embryonic and adult human brain [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

ABC transporters, neural stem cells and neurogenesis – a different perspective

“…For instance, their self-renewing ability would be useful for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Since stem cells and their differentiation products are potentially of broad therapeutic uses, efforts that would enable the supply of a continual source of primitive stem cells in vitro will be vital in revolutionizing the treatment of many diseases [16][17][18].…”

Human adipose tissue‐derived mesenchymal stem cells improve cognitive function and physical activity in ageing mice

“…Stem cell therapy has recently been noted as a novel strategy to treat neurological disorders such as AD, Parkinson's disease (PD), stroke, and spinal cord injury (SCI; Lindvall and Kokaia, 2006;Kim and de Vellis, 2009;Park et al, 2012a,b). In contrast to a transient improvement in body function by pharmaceuticals, stem cells may prevent or delay host cell death and restore injured tissues (Lindvall and Kokaia, 2006;Blurton-Jones et al, 2009;Kim and de Vellis, 2009).…”

“…In contrast to a transient improvement in body function by pharmaceuticals, stem cells may prevent or delay host cell death and restore injured tissues (Lindvall and Kokaia, 2006;Blurton-Jones et al, 2009;Kim and de Vellis, 2009). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been isolated from several tissues, such as bone marrow, adipose tissue, umbilical cord blood, and the amniotic membrane (Pittenger et al, 1999;Díaz-Prado et al, 2011).…”