Spinal cord repair: mechanisms gleaned from stem cell-based multimodal studies

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• Yang D. Teng, MD, PhD, Departments of Neurosurgery and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, and Division of SCI Research, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA
• Wednesday 19 January 2011, 16:30-17:30
• Brain Repair Centre, Forvie Site, Robinson Way.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Shannon Tinley-Browne.

It was initially hypothesized that the biology of neural stem cells (NSCs) makes them ideally and uniquely suited to reconstructing the damaged central nervous system (CNS) through cell replacement. Emerging evidence, however, increasingly suggests that NSCs may repair the CNS through multimechanistic strategies that are often concurrent. They may serve not only as tissue engineering mediators of cellular reconstitution, but also as vectors for the delivery of molecules. Buoyed by tangible results derived from a recent study in which retrievable drug-releasing polymer seeded with human NSCs (hNSCs) was applied for both investigative and therapeutic purposes, I propose to discuss that how a polymer based retrievable implant containing hNSCs may hold significant promise for providing a broad range of insight regarding essential neurological mechanisms required for repairing the adult mammalian spinal cord after injury. I will present data elucidating molecular events underlying rapid loss of donor cells in acutely injured spinal cord, and counteracting strategies proved effective in a rat model of dual penetrating SCI using a retrievable design of poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) scaffold seeded with hNSCs that was shielded by drug-releasing polymer. Additionally, data obtained by adopting similar approaches will be analyzed for understanding the critical role of distal spinal cord adaptation in the processes of invoking neuroplasticity and rehabilitation post SCI . Our findings may provide a bioengineering approach integrated with stem cell biology for investigating mechanisms mediating the host microenvironment and donor NSC interaction and help formulate therapeutic tactics for enhancing clinically meaningful functional restoration following SCI .

This talk is part of the BRC Seminar Series series.

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