Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Many basic and clinical studies have shown that umbilical cord blood stem cells (UCBSCs) transplantation can improve neurological function after focal cerebral ischemia.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the related research and the underlying mechanism of UCBSCs transplantation in the treatment of stroke.
METHODS: The first author retrieved PubMed database and Wanfang database for articles of basic research on UCBSCs transplantation for cerebral ischemia published from January 2001 to August 2011. The key words were “umbilical cord blood stem cells, focal cerebral ischemic, transplantation” in English and Chinese. A total of 50 relevant literatures were retrieved, and finally, 30 articles were included according to the inclusion criteria.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: UCBSCs could be differentiated into nerve cells in appropriate induced conditions with the characters of self-renewal, proliferation, and multi-directional differentiation potential. Related studies had indicated that UCBSCs transplantation could improve neurological disorder and decrease damaged infarct volume. The mechanisms include reducing inflammation, increasing trophic factor secretion, and promoting angiogenesis and nerve fiber reorganization. Greater achievements have been made in the treatment of stroke, but many problems still existed. Some problems need further investigation, for example, how to improve the utilization rate of UCBSCs, prevent excessive cell proliferation and whether these cells can be integrated into the injury site to preserve normal function.