摘要
Neurological disorders are increasing in prevalence world- wide, and interest in stem cell therapies for these amictions has increased over the past two decades. While many neu- rological injuries are too devastating for the repair capabil- ities of endogenous neural stem cells （NSCs） an alternative is to harvest stem cells from a donor and grow them in vitro, to be used later as a donor source for transplantation. Many research groups have already done this, first using animal models and now using clinical trial participants. Despite the regular flow of publications about cell replace- ment therapies for central nervous system （CNS） disorders, there is still a scarcity of clinically-relevant reports of effi- cacy. The capability of donor cells to undergo ample site-di- rected differentiation and functional integration seems to be lacking （Andressen, 2013）. So, while stem cells do have properties that are suited for repair of the injured CNS, a primary remaining question is how these cells can best be grafted to produce long-term functional benefit to the host environment. Moreover, among the challenges in neural cell transplantation is controlling the ultimate characteris- tics of grafted cells, pertaining to their survival, phenotypes and performance.
Neurological disorders are increasing in prevalence world- wide, and interest in stem cell therapies for these amictions has increased over the past two decades. While many neu- rological injuries are too devastating for the repair capabil- ities of endogenous neural stem cells （NSCs） an alternative is to harvest stem cells from a donor and grow them in vitro, to be used later as a donor source for transplantation. Many research groups have already done this, first using animal models and now using clinical trial participants. Despite the regular flow of publications about cell replace- ment therapies for central nervous system （CNS） disorders, there is still a scarcity of clinically-relevant reports of effi- cacy. The capability of donor cells to undergo ample site-di- rected differentiation and functional integration seems to be lacking （Andressen, 2013）. So, while stem cells do have properties that are suited for repair of the injured CNS, a primary remaining question is how these cells can best be grafted to produce long-term functional benefit to the host environment. Moreover, among the challenges in neural cell transplantation is controlling the ultimate characteris- tics of grafted cells, pertaining to their survival, phenotypes and performance.
