Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Neural stem cells are characterized by multi-directional differentiation potential, self-renewal, migration, low immunity, which has been widely used in clinical practice. However, there are rare researches addressing neural stem cells in the field of sports medicine for sports injury prevention.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical applications of neural stem cells through its biological characteristics, and provides a theoretical basis for sports injury prevention and treatment.
METHODS: The articles related to neural stem cells and exercise-induced neurological disease in CNKI database and PubMed database from January 1997 to October 2010 were retrieved with the key words of “Neural Stem Cell, Sports Medicine, Denervation Muscle Atrophy, Peripheral Nerve Injury” in Chinese or in English. The contents of articles concerning neural stem cells and exercise-induced neurological disease, and recently published or published in the authoritative magazines in the same field were selected. A total of 262 literatures were obtained from computer screen, and 31 documents of them were involved for summarization according to inclusion criteria.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Neural stem cells are characterized by multi-directional differentiation potential, self-remaining and renewal, low immunity, migration, and wide variety of sources, which provide a more broad application prospects for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, exercise-induced skeletal muscle atrophy, and promote the sport of the regeneration of peripheral nerve injury. But because of the limited basic research, its mechanism of action, induced differentiation, migration need to be confirmed.