Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
New Prospects for Neural Stem Cell
Therapies of Nervous System Diseases
Toward the Establishment of Atypical
Ectopic Perivascular Stem Cell Niches
Clara Alfaro-Cervello, Chiara Cossetti, Elena Giusto, Matteo Donegà
and Stefano Pluchino
Abstract Compelling evidence exists that neural stem/precursor cell (NPC)
transplants protect the central nervous system (CNS) from inflammation-driven
degeneration, such as that occurring in multiple sclerosis (MS) and in the subacute
stages after brain stroke and spinal cord injury (SCI). In immune-mediated experi-
mental demyelination and stroke, transplanted NPCs display a constitutive and
inducible ability to mediate efficient bystander myelin repair and axonal rescue. This is
dependent on multiple 'chaperone'-like capacities that NPCs exhibit within specific
in vivo microenvironments after transplantation. Yet, a comprehensive understanding
of the mechanisms by which NPCs exert their therapeutic impact is lacking. Here will
review some of these bystander capacities, while pointing at the formation of the
atypical ectopic perivascular niches, as the most challenging example of cross talk
between the inflamed microenvironment(s) and transplanted therapeutic NPCs.
2.1 Introduction
During development, neural stem cells give rise to lineages leading to the formation
of neurons or glial cells. Differentiated cells can be also generated through one or
multiple stages of amplification by various types of more restricted progenitors [
1
,
2
].
In the adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS), neural stem cells persist in the
subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricles, and in the dentate gyrus (DG) of
the hippocampus. The largest neurogenic region is the SVZ, where stem cells give
