The Use of Stem Cells in Neural Regeneration: A Review of Current Opinion

Any traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) may cause symptoms ranging from pain to complete loss of motor and sensory functions below the level of the injury. Currently, there are over 2 million SCI patients worldwide. The cost of their necessary continuing care creates a burden for the patient, their families, and society. Presently, few SCI treatments are available and none have facilitated neural regeneration and/or significant functional improvement. Research is being conducted in the following areas: pathophysiology, cellular therapies (Schwann cells, embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, olfactory ensheathing cells), growth factors (BDNF), inhibitory molecules (NG2, myelin protein), and combination therapies (cell grafts and neurotrophins, cotransplantation). Results are often limited because of the inhibitory environment created following the injury and the limited regenerative potential of the central nervous system. Therapies that show promise in small animal models may not transfer to nonhuman primates and humans. None of the research has resulted in remarkable improvement, but many areas show promise. Studies have suggested that a combination of therapies may enhance results and may be more effective than a single therapy. This paper reviews and discusses the most promising new SCI research including combination therapies.

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Transplanted hair follicle stem cells migrate to the penumbra and express neural markers in a rat model of cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion

Stem Cell Research & Therapy ◽

10.1186/s13287-020-01927-w ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xuemei Zhang ◽

Hao Tang ◽

Senlin Mao ◽

Bing Li ◽

Yinglian Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Ischaemic Stroke ◽

Hair Follicle ◽

Cell Transplantation ◽

Rat Model ◽

Therapeutic Potential ◽

Neural Regeneration ◽

Ischaemia Reperfusion ◽

Hair Follicle Stem Cells ◽

Follicle Stem Cells

Abstract Background Ischaemic stroke has become the main cause of death and severe neurological disorders, for which effective restorative treatments are currently limited. While stem cell transplantation offers therapeutic potential through neural regeneration, this approach is associated with the challenges of limited applicable sources. Hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are multipotential cells that can differentiate into ectodermal and mesodermal lineages and proliferate for long periods. The therapeutic potentials of HFSCs have not been investigated in ischaemic stroke models, and therefore, in this study, we aimed to determine whether they could survive and migrate to ischaemic areas after a stroke attack. Methods A rat model of middle cerebral artery ischaemia/reperfusion was established and intravenously administered HFSCs. The potential of HFSCs to migrate and differentiate into neuron-like cells as well as their ability to reduce the infarct size was evaluated. Rat brain tissue samples were collected 2 weeks after cell transplantation and analysed via TTC staining, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry methods. The data were statistically analysed and presented as the means ± standard deviations. Results Intravenously administrated rat HFSCs were able to migrate to the penumbra where they expressed neuron-specific markers, reduced the infarct volume and promoted neurological recovery. Conclusion HFSC transplantation has therapeutic potential for ischaemic stroke and is, therefore, worthy of further investigation toward possible clinical development for treating stroke patients.

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Effects of Transplanted Heparin-Poloxamer Hydrogel Combining Dental Pulp Stem Cells and bFGF on Spinal Cord Injury Repair

Stem Cells International ◽

10.1155/2018/2398521 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Lihua Luo ◽

Abdullkhaleg Ali Albashari ◽

Xiaoyan Wang ◽

Ling Jin ◽

Yanni Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spinal Cord ◽

Stem Cells ◽

Spinal Cord Injury ◽

Functional Recovery ◽

Dental Pulp ◽

Dental Pulp Stem Cells ◽

Cellular Growth ◽

Neural Regeneration ◽

3D Network ◽

Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of serious traumatic diseases of the central nervous system and has no effective treatment because of its complicated pathophysiology. Tissue engineering strategy which contains scaffolds, cells, and growth factors can provide a promising treatment for SCI. Hydrogel that has 3D network structure and biomimetic microenvironment can support cellular growth and embed biological macromolecules for sustaining release. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), derived from cranial neural crest, possess mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) characteristics and have an ability to provide neuroprotective and neurotrophic properties for SCI treatment. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is able to promote cell survival and proliferation and also has beneficial effect on neural regeneration and functional recovery after SCI. Herein, a thermosensitive heparin-poloxamer (HP) hydrogel containing DPSCs and bFGF was prepared, and the effects of HP-bFGF-DPSCs on neuron restoration after SCI were evaluated by functional recovery tests, western blotting, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), histology evaluation, and immunohistochemistry. The results suggested that transplanted HP hydrogel containing DPSCs and bFGF had a significant impact on spinal cord repair and regeneration and may provide a promising strategy for neuron repair, functional recovery, and tissue regeneration after SCI.

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Differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into neuron-like cells using composite 3D scaffold combined with valproic acid induction

Journal of Biomaterials Applications ◽

10.1177/0885328217741903 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 32 (6) ◽

pp. 702-715 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Sadegh Ghorbani ◽

Taki Tiraihi ◽

Masoud Soleimani

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Valproic Acid ◽

Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽

Mesenchymal Stem Cells ◽

Lactic Acid ◽

Reverse Transcription ◽

Neural Regeneration ◽

Poly Lactic Acid ◽

Chain Reaction ◽

Polymerase Chain

The nervous system has little capacity for self-repair after injury because neurons cannot proliferate owing to lack of suitable microenvironment. Therefore, neural tissue engineering that combines neural stem, scaffolds, and growth factors may improve the chance of restoration of damaged neural tissues. A favorable niche for neural regeneration would be both fibrous and electrically conductive scaffolds. Human Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells were seeded on wet-electrospun 3D scaffolds composed of poly lactic acid coated with natural polymers including alginate and gelatin, followed by a multi-wall carbon nanotube coating. The results show that a wet-electrospun poly lactic acid scaffold at a concentration of 15% w/v had higher porosity (above 80%) than other concentrations. Moreover, the coated scaffold supported the growth of human Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells in 3D culture, and were incubated for 21 days with 1 mM valproic acid as the inducer resulted in improvement in human Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells differentiation into neuron-like cells immunoreactivity to nestin, Map2, and neuron specific enolase (NSE), which were also consistent with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitive Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) results. The conclusion is that the 3D composite nanofiber poly lactic acid scaffold improved the transdifferentiation of human Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells into neuron-like cells.

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Transplanted Hair Follicle Stem Cells Migrate to the Penumbra and Express Neural Markers in a Rat Model of Cerebral Ischaemia/Reperfusion

10.21203/rs.3.rs-25662/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xuemei Zhang ◽

Hao Tang ◽

Senlin Mao ◽

Bing Li ◽

Yinglian Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Ischaemic Stroke ◽

Hair Follicle ◽

Cell Transplantation ◽

Rat Model ◽

Therapeutic Potential ◽

Neural Regeneration ◽

Ischaemia Reperfusion ◽

Hair Follicle Stem Cells ◽

Follicle Stem Cells

Abstract Background: Ischaemic stroke has become the main cause of death and severe neurological disorders, for which effective restorative treatments are currently limited. While stem cell transplantation offers therapeutic potential through neural regeneration, this approach is associated with challenges of limited applicable sources. Hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are multipotential cells which can differentiate into ectodermal and mesodermal lineages and proliferate for long periods. The therapeutic potentials of HFSCs have not been investigated in ischaemic stroke models and, therefore, in this study, we aimed to determine whether they can survive and migrate to ischaemic areas after stroke attack. Methods : A rat model of middle cerebral artery ischaemia/reperfusion was established and intravenously administrated HFSCs. The potential of HFSCs to migrate and differentiate into neuron-like cells, as well as their ability to reduce the infarct size, was evaluated. Rat brain tissue samples were collected 2 weeks after cell transplantation and analysed via TTC staining, immunofluorescence, and immunohistochemistry methods. The data were statistically analysed and are presented as the means ± standard deviations (SDs). Results : Intravenously administrated rat HFSCs migrated to the penumbra where they expressed neuron-specific markers, reduced the infarct volume, and promoted neurological recovery. Conclusion : HFSC transplantation has therapeutic potential for ischaemic stroke, which implies that HFSC treatment might be useful for stroke patients in the future and is, therefore, worthy of further investigation toward possible clinical development.

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By using either endogenous or transplanted stem cells, which could you prefer for neural regeneration?

Neural Regeneration Research ◽

10.4103/1673-5374.238609 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 1731

Author(s):

Satoru Matsuda ◽

Yukie Nakagawa ◽

Kumi Amano ◽

Yuka Ikeda ◽

Ai Tsuji ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Neural Regeneration

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