Comprehensive Concept of Regenerative Medicine for Ischemic Stroke With Bone Marrow Stromal Cells

In this chapter, the author reviews recent advancements and perspective on cell therapy for ischemic stroke with bone marrow-derived cells, including bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) and multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) cells. They can be easily isolated from the patients themselves and transplanted into them without any ethical and immunological problem. Animal experiments have shown that direct transplantation of these adult stem cells significantly enhance the recovery of motor function in various types of neurological disorders such as ischemic stroke. They aggressively migrate toward the damaged tissue and proliferate in the host brain. During the last 5 years, the BMSCs are known to contain heterogeneous subpopulations and contribute to functional recovery through multiple mechanisms, including neuroprotection, inflammatory modulation, cell fusion, and neural differentiation.