New Treatment for Stroke

Astrocytes, which are brain cells that transport key nutrients and form the blood-brain barrier, can reduce disability due to stroke and other ischemic brain disorders. That's the finding of a University of California-Davis study published July 23rd in the journal Nature Communications

A release from the university quotes senior author Wenbin Deng as saying,

"Astrocytes are often considered just 'housekeeping' cells because of their supportive roles to neurons, but they're actually much more sophisticated. They are critical to several brain functions and are believed to protect neurons from injury and death. They are not excitable cells like neurons and are easier to harness. We wanted to explore their potential in treating neurological disorders, beginning with stroke."

Deng added that the therapeutic potential of astrocytes has not been investigated in this context, since making them at the purity levels necessary for stem cell therapies is challenging. In addition, the specific types of astrocytes linked with protecting and repairing brain injuries were not well understood.

The release reports that the team began by using a protein that turns on genes, known as Olig2, to differentiate human embryonic stem cells into astrocytes. This approach generated a previously undiscovered type of astrocyte called Olig2PC-Astros. Not only that, but it produced those astrocytes at almost 100 percent purity.

The researchers then compared the effects of Olig2PC-Astros, another type of astrocyte called NPC-Astros, and no treatment whatsoever on three groups of rats with ischemic brain injuries. The rats transplanted with Olig2PC-Astros experienced superior neuroprotection together with higher levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein associated with nerve growth and survival. The rats transplanted with NPC-Astros or that received no treatment showed much higher levels of neuronal loss. "We were surprised and delighted to find that the Olig2PC-Astros protected neurons from oxidative stress in addition to rebuilding the neural circuits that improved learning and memory," said Deng. "Dr. Deng's team has shown that this new method for deriving astrocytes from embryonic stem cells creates a cell population that is more pure and functionally superior to the standard method for astrocyte derivation," said Jan Nolta, director of the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures. "The functional improvement seen in the brain injury models is impressive, as are the higher levels of BDNF. I will be excited to see this work extended to other brain disease models such as Huntington's disease and others, where it is known that BDNF has a positive effect." Deng added that the results could lead to stem cell treatments for many neurodegenerative diseases. "By creating a highly purified population of astrocytes and showing both their therapeutic benefits and safety, we open up the possibility of using these cells to restore brain function for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, traumatic brain disorder, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injury," said Deng.

Originally posted here:
New Treatment for Stroke