Gyrus, Vol. 10 No. 1-2, 2024.
Review article
Treating Alzheimer's disease by transplantation of neural stem cells
Korina Pervan
; School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by neuronal death and brain atrophy. Although its prevalence is on the rise, there is no effective cure yet, so the treatment is only symptomatic. As a result of the devastating symptoms, AD is becoming an increasing social and economic problem. Currently, there are two key indicators of the disease: tau protein tangles and beta-amyloid plaques. With that in mind, there is a need for new treatment options, and transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) arises as a potential candidate. NSCs are multipotent cells found in the nervous system, primarily in two parts of the hippocampus in the adult brain. With the potential to differentiate into many kinds of neural cells, they provide promising grounds for research and transplantation trials on rodents. However, there are still many obstacles to the initiation and execution of clinical trials on humans which could lead to more significant advancements in the future.
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease (AD); amyloid β; neural stem cells (NSCs); rodent models; tau protein; transplantation therapy
Hrčak ID:
353440
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2024.
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