Functional recovery after severe CNS trauma: Current perspectives for cell therapy with bone marrow stromal cells

The aim of this paper is to identify current perspectives for cell therapy applied to traumatic injuries of the central nervous system (CNS). After using diverse types of cell therapy, at present there is a growing experimental evidence that transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) can be useful to reverse the sequels of trauma affecting the brain and spinal cord. Although we still do not know many details about how these cells achieve their beneficial effects, the application of BMSC in humans, for brain or spinal cord repair, is beginning. An exquisite caution and strict methodological controls are needed to determine with certainty whether we can open a door of hope for many patients who currently suffer severe neurological deficits that are now supposedly irreversible. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.