Transplantation of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells into Developing and Adult CNS

Abstract

Neural transplantation has been a long-standing goal for the treatment of neurological injury and disease. The recent discovery of persistent pools of neural stem cells within the adult mammalian brain has re-ignited interest in transplant therapeutics. Since neural stem cells are self-renewing, it may be possible to culture and expand neural stem cells and their progenitor cell progeny to sufficient numbers for use in autologous, self-repair strategies. Such approaches will require optimized cultivation protocols, as well as extensive testing of candidate donor cells to assess their capacity for engraftment, survival, and integration. In this chapter, we describe the transplantation of neural stem/progenitor cells-cultivated as either neurospheres or neurogenic astrocyte monolayers-into the persistently neurogenic olfactory bulb system of the adult mouse forebrain, and into the cerebellum of neonatal mutant mice.

The cell-based approach in neurosurgery: ongoing trends and future perspectives

“…h-NSCs have been isolated from the olfactory bulb and the hippocampus, two sites with clear evidence of neuronal turnover. These specific cell types are thought to maintain restricted neural differentiation capabilities or in any case, committed to specific subpopulation lineages [39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45]. Specific biomarkers reflecting the processes of embryogenesis and adult neurogenesis define both h-ESCs and adult h-NSCs [46].…”

Stem cell therapy for neonatal brain injury: Perspectives and Challenges

“…34,35 However, despite the wide availability of these cells and their common use in animal models of injury, few studies have focused on their protective/regenerative effect in models of perinatal brain damage. [36][37][38][39][40][41][42] Stem Cell Types Multipotency and self-renewal are the cardinal features of stem cells. Multipotency is the ability to differentiate into multiple cell types belonging to the same germ layer (endoderm, mesoderm, or ectoderm).…”

“…Over the past 2 decades, numerous studies have evaluated the efficacy and/or feasibility of transplantation within the injured brain of stem cells or specialized progenitor cells of both neural and non‐neural origin, to replace lost cells or to prevent damaged cells from dying 34, 35. However, despite the wide availability of these cells and their common use in animal models of injury, few studies have focused on their protective/regenerative effect in models of perinatal brain damage 36–42…”

Stem cells of the respiratory system: From identification to differentiation into functional epithelium

“…Convincing evidence emerging for the identity and function of a putative stem cell population, as shown in hematopoietic 43, 44, skin 40, 41, muscle 52, and neural stem cells 53 is their ability for self‐renewal and in vivo multilineage differentiation after transplantation. Until recently, no engraftment of any stem cell population has been unequivoqually demonstrated in steady‐state lung or in a lung injury model.…”