Stroke Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stroke, including details on treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, signs, symptoms.

Neural stem cells reduce brain injury after unilateral carotid ligation.

Comi AM, Cho E, Mulholland JD, Hooper A, Li Q, Qu Y, Gary DS, McDonald JW, Johnston MV

Division of Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Kennedy Krieger Institute, and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. comi@kennedykrieger.org

Neonatal stroke presents with seizures and results in neurologic morbidity, including epilepsy, hemiparesis, and cognitive deficits. Stem cell-based therapy offers a possible therapeutic strategy for neonatal stroke. We developed an immature mouse model of stroke with acute seizures and ischemic brain injury. Postnatal day 12 CD1 mice received right-sided carotid ligation. Two or 7 days after ligation, mice received an intrastriatal injection of B5 embryonic stem cell-derived neural stem cells. Four weeks after ligation, hemispheric brain atrophy was measured. Pups receiving stem cells 2 days after ligation had less severe hemispheric brain atrophy compared with either noninjected or vehicle-injected ligated controls. Transplanted cells survived, but 3 out of 10 pups injected with stem cells developed local tumors. No difference in hemispheric brain atrophy was seen in mice injected with stem cells 7 days after ligation. Neural stem cells have the potential to ameliorate ischemic injury in the immature brain, although tumor development is a serious concern.

Published 21 January 2008 in Pediatr Neurol, 38(2): 86-92.
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