Stem cells transplantation for cerebral ischemia / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

Cerebral ischemia represents one of the leading causes of death and disability in modern time, but only few options exist for the treatment of ischemia-related disease. Neural cell replacement can reconstruct the nerve conduction circuit unit and lead to functional recovery partly in patients. The mechanism lies in the stem cells transplanted into the lesion can differentiate into functional glial cells or neurons, and they can substitute the functions of dead neurons; to activate the endogenous neural stem cells; to excrete cytokines and improve the local environments, such as inflammatory reactions, tissue necrosis and glial scar formation. Transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, umbilical cord blood, embryonic stem cells and adipose mesenchymal cells have been used for stem cells transplantation in treatment of cerebral ischemia in animal models. So far, the underlying mechanisms of the cell replacement therapy for stroke lesions have remained unknown, and this therapy faces predominantly two major problems one is how cell grafts survive in an ischemic environment; the other is how cell grafts substitute or rescue neural cells with many different phenotypes.