Stem cell therapy role in neurodegenerative disorders

Abstract

Cellular therapies represent a new frontier in the therapy of neurological diseases. Earlier, regeneration of neurons has been admitted as an impossible event. Thus, neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis), vascular events (e.g., stroke), and traumatic diseases (e.g., spinal cord injury) have been identified as incurable diseases. Later on, tissue reparative and regenerative potential of stem cell researches for these disorders drew attention of scientists to replacement therapy. Now, there are hundreds of current clinical and experimental regenerative treatment studies. One of the most popular therapies is cell transplantation. Transplanted neural stem/precursor cells protect the injured central nervous system using a variety of articulated mechanisms, a mode of action named ''therapeutic plasticity,” encompassing both bystander effects (immunomodulation and enhancement of endogenous repair mechanisms) and cell replacement. An extensive search was made using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar using the following search terms: stem cells, neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer's disease, and stem cell therapy. In this review, we presented the possible benefits of stem cell therapy in neurodegenerative disorders.

Keywords

• alzheimer's disease
• neurodegenerative disorders
• neuronal precursor cells
• parkinson's disease
• stem cells