Читать книгу The SAGE Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research - Группа авторов - Страница 439

Ischemic stroke occurs due to blockage in blood flow due to a clot or narrowing in an artery. Brain cells deprived of oxygen normally die within minutes. Stroke is one of the most common causes of death in the United States, with over 750,000 cases per year. More commonly, it leads to permanent debilitation. Today, the most widely used treatments are various medications (thrombolytic agents: tPA) and endovascular interventions, often combined with physical and/or speech therapy. With the exception of rehabilitation therapy, very few treatments are available to improve the chronic neurologic deficits caused by a stroke. In addition to medication and physical therapy, there is promising research on the benefits of stem cell treatments for stroke victims. Some stem cell treatments would facilitate or improve the recovery and rehabilitation after a stroke, while other stem cell research focuses on the ability to repair damage done during a stroke.

Stem cells (SCs) are characterized by their ability for self-renewal (i.e., maintaining their undifferentiated state during several rounds of cell division), and their potency (i.e., the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types). The two main stem cell types are embryonic stem cells (ES) and adult stem cells (i.e., somatic stem cells). Other types, such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), are produced in the lab by reprogramming adult cells to express ES characteristics. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a subset of adult stem cells from bone marrow or adipose tissue. These cells are of medical and therapeutic interest because they have been shown to differentiate into osteoblasts, adipocytes, chondrocytes, myocytes, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and neurons.

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are one of the subtypes of adult SCs, which are particularly found in the brain of both fetal and adult mammals with the ability of differentiation to three major central nervous system (CNS) cell types: neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes.