Zhao L, Liu JW, Shi HY, Ma YM. Neural stem cell therapy for brain disease. World J Stem Cells 2021; 13(9): 1278-1292 [PMID: 34630862 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i9.1278]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Lan Zhao, PhD, Research Fellow, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 88 Chang Ling Road, Xi Qing District, Tianjin 300381, China. lanzhao69@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Neurosciences
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Stem Cells. Sep 26, 2021; 13(9): 1278-1292 Published online Sep 26, 2021. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i9.1278
Neural stem cell therapy for brain disease
Lan Zhao, Jian-Wei Liu, Hui-Yan Shi, Ya-Min Ma
Lan Zhao, Hui-Yan Shi, Ya-Min Ma, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300381, China
Lan Zhao, Hui-Yan Shi, Ya-Min Ma, National Clinical Research Center for Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin 300381, China
Jian-Wei Liu, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China
Author contributions: Zhao L wrote the paper and was responsible for the research funding; Liu JW and Shi HY were involved in the data collection; Ma YM was responsible for the review revision; All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lan Zhao, PhD, Research Fellow, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 88 Chang Ling Road, Xi Qing District, Tianjin 300381, China. lanzhao69@163.com
Received: February 27, 2021 Peer-review started: February 27, 2021 First decision: May 5, 2021 Revised: May 28, 2021 Accepted: August 27, 2021 Article in press: August 27, 2021 Published online: September 26, 2021
Abstract
Brain diseases, including brain tumors, neurodegenerative disorders, cerebrovascular diseases, and traumatic brain injuries, are among the major disorders influencing human health, currently with no effective therapy. Due to the low regeneration capacity of neurons, insufficient secretion of neurotrophic factors, and the aggravation of ischemia and hypoxia after nerve injury, irreversible loss of functional neurons and nerve tissue damage occurs. This damage is difficult to repair and regenerate the central nervous system after injury. Neural stem cells (NSCs) are pluripotent stem cells that only exist in the central nervous system. They have good self-renewal potential and ability to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes and improve the cellular microenvironment. NSC transplantation approaches have been made for various neurodegenerative disorders based on their regenerative potential. This review summarizes and discusses the characteristics of NSCs, and the advantages and effects of NSCs in the treatment of brain diseases and limitations of NSC transplantation that need to be addressed for the treatment of brain diseases in the future.
Core Tip: In this review, we elaborate on the characteristics of neural stem cells (NSCs) and their effects on the treatment of traumatic brain injury, hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. At the same time, we discuss the applications and limitations of NSCs to treat brain diseases.
