Generation of Functional Neural Artificial Tissue from Human Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells

Stem cell-based regenerative neurology is an emerging concept for treatment of diseases of central nervous system. Among variety of proposed procedures, one of the most promising is refilling of cystic cavities of injured brain parenchyma with artificial neural tissue. Recent studies revealed that after allogenic transplantation in rodents these tissue-engineered entities were shown efficient in repair of hypoxic=ischemic brain injury. Human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) was recognized to be an efficient and noncontroversial source of neural stem cells (NSC). The main purpose of this study was to generate HUCB-derived neural artificial tissue and investigate their functional properties. Neural organoids formed on human-originated biodegradable scaffolds within 3 weeks and resembled niche structure where immature stem cells (Oct4þ and Sox2þ) and proliferating neuroblasts (Nestinþ, GFAPþ, and Ki67þ) were present. Such aggregates were placed on multi-electrode chips and differentiated toward mature neurons (TUJ1þ and MAP2þ). These three-dimensional aggregates in contrast to two-dimensional cultures formed functional circuits and generated spontaneous field=action potentials. Our results indicate that three-dimensional environment facilitates maturation of HUCB-derived NSC what should be considered regarding regenerative medicine application.

JURGA Marcin;  LIPKOWSKI Andrzej;  LUKOMSKA Barbara;  BUZANSKA Eleonora;  KURZEPA Katarzyna;  SOBANSKI Tomasz;  HABICH Aleksandra;  COECKE Sandra;  GAJKOWSKA Barbara;  DOMANSKA-JANIK Krystyna; 

2010-01-26

MARY ANN LIEBERT INC

JRC56831

1937-3341,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC56831,   

10.1089/TEN.TEC.2008.0485,