Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research

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Stem cell therapy for ischemic stroke

Yuan Zhi-jun, Li Xiao-gang   

  1. Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou  646000, Sichuan Province, China
  • Revised:2013-04-22 Online:2013-11-05 Published:2013-11-05
  • About author:Yuan Zhi-jun★, Studying for master’s degree, Physician, Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou 646000, Sichuan Province, China wzj694397641@qq.com

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Stem cells are a kind of cells characterized as species diversity, self-replication and renewal ability, multiple differentiation potential and high proliferation potential. Then, the stem cell treatment for ischemic brain injury would be of great benefit. Stem cell therapy provides a new way for the treatment of ischemic stroke, but the mechanism is still unclear.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the types of stem cells and review the mechanism underlying stem cell treatment for ischemic stroke.
METHODS: The first author retrieved PubMed database, Chinese Journal Full-text Database for articles related to stem cell classification and effectiveness, safety and mechanism of stem cell therapy for ischemic stroke published from January 1992 to September 2012. The key words were “stem cells, brain ischemic stroke, transplantation, treatment” in English and Chinese, respectively. A total of 168 literatures were retrieved, and 61 articles met the inclusion criteria.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Stem cell therapy for ischemic stroke has shown a promising prospect though it is staged in the period of animal models. Stem cell transplantation for promoting functional recovery in the treatment of stroke has been completed in the clinical phase I or phase II trials. Stem cell transplantation for ischemic stroke appears to have no adverse reactions and to promote functional recovery. Main difficulties in stem cell transplantation for treatment of ischemic stroke include sources of stem cells, transplantation approach, stem cell survival in the host body, stem cell integration with the host brain, therapeutic effectiveness and security. Based on the acquired results from the mechanism research and clinical trials, how to safely and quickly apply the stem cell therapy from the experiments to the clinic still needs to work.

Key words: stem cells, stem cell transplantation, stroke, models, animal

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