Main description:

Active neuroscientists survey NSCs as potential tools for central nervous system and spinal cord repair by explaining their clinically significant fundamental properties, manipulations, and potential therapeutic paradigms. Their discussion of the fundamental biology of NSCs illustrates the signaling pathways that regulate stem cell division and differentiation, and defines the methods of NSC expansion and propagation, neuromorphogenesis, the factors determining cell fate both in vitro and in situ, and the induction of self-reparative processes within the brain. They also present strategies that may lead to fruitful clinical applications in the near future. These range from the replacement of degenerated, dysfunctional, or maldeveloped cells to the provision of factors that may protect, correct, recruit, promote self-repair, or mediate the connectivity of host cells.

Contents:

Part I. Stem Cells for and from the CNS: Their Source and Fundamental Properties

Sources of Cells for CNS Therapy
Melissa K. Carpenter, Mark Mattson, and Mahendra S. Rao

Neural Stem Cells and Their Plasticity
Angela Gritti, Angelo Vescovi, and Rossella Galli

Identification, Selection, and Use of Adult Human Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells
Martha Windrem, Neeta Roy, Marta Nunes, and Steven A. Goldman

Generation, Characterization, and Transplantation of Immortalized Human Neural Crest Stem Cells
Eiji Nakagawa, Kozo Hatori, Atsushi Nagai, Hyun B. Choi, Myung A. Lee, Jung H. Bang, Jean Kim, Jae K. Ryu, Akihiko Ozaki, Min C. Lee, Evan Y. Snyder, and Seung U. Kim

The Search for Neural Progenitors in Bone Marrow and Umbilical Cord Blood
Shijie Song, Paul Sanberg, and Juan Sanchez-Ramos

Part II. In Vitro and/or In Vivo Manipulations of Stem/Progenitor Cells for the CNS

Signal Transduction Pathways That Regulate Neural Stem Cell Division and Differentiation
Luciano Conti and Elena Cattaneo

Neural Stem/Progenitor Cell Clones or 'Neurospheres': A Model for Understanding Neuromorphogenesis
Dennis A. Steindler, Bjorn Scheffler, Eric D. Laywell, Oleg N. Suslov, Tong Zheng, Thomas Reiniger, and Valery G. Kukekov

Neural Stem Cells and Specification of Cell Fates: Biological and Therapeutical Perspectives
Marcel M. Daadi

Manipulation of Neural Precursors In Situ: Potential for Brain Self-Repair
Sanjay S. P. Magavi and Jeffrey D. Macklis

Neural Stem Cells in the Adult Hippocampus
Jasodhara Ray and Daniel A. Peterson

Part III. Stem/Progenitor Cells in Representative Therapeutic Paradigms for the CNS

Global Gene and Cell Replacement Strategies via Stem Cells
Kook In Park, James J. Palacino, Roseanne Taylor, Karen S. Aboody, Barbara A. Tate, Vaclav Ourednik, Jitka Ourednik, Mahesh Lachyankar, and Evan Y. Snyder

Neural Stem Cells in and from the Spinal Cord, Yang D. Teng, Mary Katherine C. White, Erin Lavik, Shaoxiang Liu, Mahesh Lachyankar, Kook In Park, and Evan Y. Snyder

Stem Cells for Spinal Cord Injury, Paul Lu, Evan Y. Snyder, and Mark H. Tuszynski

Spinal Ischemia-Induced Paraplegia: A Potential Therapeutical Role of Spinally Grafted Neural Precursors and Human hNT Neurons
Martin Marsala, Osamu Kakinohana, Tony L. Yaksh, and Joho Tokumine

Utilization of Marrow Stromal Cells for Gene Transfer into the CNS
S. Ausim Azizi, Emily J. Schwarz, Darwin Prockop, Guillermo Alexander, Katherine A. Mortati, and Barbara Krynska

Preclinical Basis for Use of NT2N Cells in Neural Transplantation Therapy
Cesario V. Borlongan and Paul R. Sanberg

Index