Stroke and Stem Cell Therapy
Until recently, regeneration of the cells in central nervous system (CNS) was accepted as impossible. However, during the last 10-15 years, scientific evidence has been accumulated and regeneration of the neurons and astrocytes was proven. As a result, stem cell based therapies have been investigated in CNS disease such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and others. Two major lines of research were mainly used; transplanting exogenous stem cells and amplifying endogenous stem cells through neurogenesis. Although emerging as an ideal therapy in a disease as stroke which affects all kind of cells in CNS, multiple problems occurred. Despite its great potential, an easily obtainable, abundant, safe and clinically proven source of stem cells has not been available yet. Many scientific studies are needed to be done before attempting to use stem cells in stroke. Despite these hopeful improvements in stem cell therapy in CNS, rehabilitation of stroke need not to be neglected because stem cell therapy would be more useful for those patients who received proper rehabilitation until the transplantation.
Keywords : Stroke, stem cell, regeneratio