Stem cell based therapy for spinal cord injury

Stem cells (SC) represent a new therapeutic approach for spinal cord injury (SCI) by enabling improved sensory and motor functions in animal models. The main goal of SC based therapy for SCI is replacement of neurons and glial cells that undergo cell death soon after injury. Stem cells are able to p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Volarevic, Vladislav, Erceg, Slaven, Bhattacharya, Shom Shanker, Stojkovic, Petra, Horner, Philip, Stojkovic, Miodrag
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/122567
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/122567
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Stem cells (SCs)
Spinal cord injury (SCI)
Differentiation
Remyelination
Inflammation
Descripción
Sumario:Stem cells (SC) represent a new therapeutic approach for spinal cord injury (SCI) by enabling improved sensory and motor functions in animal models. The main goal of SC based therapy for SCI is replacement of neurons and glial cells that undergo cell death soon after injury. Stem cells are able to promote remyelination via oligodendroglia cell replacement, to produce trophic factors enhancing neurite outgrowth, axonal elongation and fibre density and to activate resident or transplanted progenitor cells across the lesion cavity. While several SC transplantation strategies have shown promising yet partial efficacy, mechanistic proof is generally lacking and is arguably the largest impediment toward faster progress and clinical application. The main challenge ahead is to spurn cooperation between clinicians, researchers and patients in order to define and optimize mechanisms of SC function and to establish the ideal source/s of SC that produce efficient and also safe therapeutic approaches.