Functional Neural Transplantation IV

Translation to Clinical Application, Part B

1st Edition, Volume 231 - May 26, 2017
Editors: Stephen B. Dunnett, Anders Bjorklund
Language: English
Hardback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 1 3 8 7 9 - 3
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 1 3 8 8 0 - 9

Functional Neural Transplantation IV: Translation to Clinical Application, Part B, Volume 231 provides the current status of cell transplantation in the nervous system, focusing… Read more

Purchase options

LIMITED OFFER

Save 50% on book bundles

Immediately download your ebook while waiting for your print delivery. No promo code is needed.

Institutional subscription on ScienceDirect

Request a sales quote

Functional Neural Transplantation IV: Translation to Clinical Application, Part B, Volume 231 provides the current status of cell transplantation in the nervous system, focusing on the conditions for achieving structural repair and functional recovery. New to this edition are chapters on Plasticity and Regeneration in the Injured Spinal Cord After Cell Transplantation Therapy, Transplantation of GABAergic Interneurons for Cell-Based Therapy, Rebuilding CNS Inhibitory Circuits to Control Chronic Neuropathic Pain and Itch, From Transplanting Schwann Cells in Experimental Rat Spinal Cord Injury to their Transplantation into Human Injured Spinal Cord in Clinical Trials, and the Recruitment of Endogenous CNS Stem Cells for Regeneration in Demyelinating Disease.

As the fourth in a periodic series of updates at 5-7 year intervals, this volume highlights recent developments in cellular and molecular science, providing the fundamental principles of neuroplasticity and regeneration in the brain and spinal cord, while also addressing the power of pluripotent stem cells to generate new sources of precisely specified neurons for utilization in brain repair.

Stephen B. Dunnett

Dunnett is a behavioural neuroscientist who started a lifelong collaboration with the Björklund team in 1979 to explore the functional consequences of cell transplantation method in animal models of neurodegenerative disease, in particular involving cell replacement and repair of the basal ganglia. He has developed models and novel methods of motor and cognitive assessment to apply behavioural analysis not simply to assess functional efficacy of implanted cells, but as a tool to study the mechanisms of cell integration, circuit reconstruction and functional repair. In parallel his laboratory originated the first UK trial of cell transplantation in Huntington’s disease, and provides the source of clinical grade cells for further ongoing trials in Parkinson’s disease.

Affiliations and expertise

Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Anders Bjorklund

Anders Björklund is Senior Professor of neuroscience at Lund University (Sweden). His research career at Lund University spans over more than 50 years, and has resulted in a publication list that covers over 600 papers. His major achievements are in the field of cell transplantation and brain repair. He started this line of research in the mid 1970ies, based on the idea that immature neurons can be used to restore brain circuitry and promote functional recovery in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. During this period, 1975-1985, his group pioneered this approach using cells obtained from the fetal brain. Anders and his clinical collaborators obtained permission to use tissue from aborted human fetuses in a series of open-label clinical trials in PD patients. Although the outcome of these trials has been quite variable, they have given proof-of-principle that immature dopamin neurons can survive and mature in the striatum in advanced PD patients, and restore dopamine neurotransmission in the area of the striatum re-innervated by the grafted neurons. Since the 1980ies the Lund neural transplantation program has been a leader in the development of restorative therapies in Parkinson´s disease. Current efforts at the Wallenberg Neuroscience center are focused on the development of stem cell-derived dopamine neurons for transplantation, aimed at the development of transplantable neurons derived from human pluripotent stem cells for clinical application. In a parallel line of work Anders group has explored the use of viral vector-mediated gene transfer for neuroprotection and brain repair, with the aim to develop new therapeutic approaches for Parkinson´s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, he has pioneered the use of AAV vectors for overexpression of human -synuclein for induction of Parkinson-like neurodegeneration in the nigrostriatal system. This approach has provided a new tool for modeling of the progressive synuclein-induced disease process in animal models of PD.

Affiliations and expertise

Lund University, Lund, Sweden