Directional induction of neural stem cells, a new therapy for neurodegenerative diseases and ischemic stroke

Due to the limited capacity of the adult mammalian brain to self-repair and regenerate, neurological diseases, especially neurodegenerative disorders and stroke, characterized by irreversible cellular damage are often considered as refractory diseases. Neural stem cells (NSCs) play a unique role in the treatment of neurological diseases for their abilities to self-renew and form different neural lineage cells, such as neurons and glial cells. With the increasing understanding of neurodevelopment and advances in stem cell technology, NSCs can be obtained from different sources and directed to differentiate into a specific neural lineage cell phenotype purposefully, making it possible to replace specific cells lost in some neurological diseases, which provides new approaches to treat neurodegenerative diseases as well as stroke. In this review, we outline the advances in generating several neuronal lineage subtypes from different sources of NSCs. We further summarize the therapeutic effects and possible therapeutic mechanisms of these fated specific NSCs in neurological disease models, with special emphasis on Parkinson's disease and ischemic stroke. Finally, from the perspective of clinical translation, we compare the strengths and weaknesses of different sources of NSCs and different methods of directed differentiation, and propose future research directions for directed differentiation of NSCs in regenerative medicine.

Automated summary

Due to the limited capacity of the adult mammalian brain to self-repair and regenerate, neurological diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders and stroke, are often considered as refractory diseases. Neural stem cells (NSCs) have the potential to differentiate into specific neural cell types and offer new approaches for the treatment of neurological diseases. This review outlines the advances in generating different neuronal lineage subtypes from NSCs and summarizes their therapeutic effects in neurological disease models, focusing on Parkinson's disease and ischemic stroke. The strengths and weaknesses of different sources of NSCs and methods of directed differentiation are compared, and future research directions for NSCs in regenerative medicine are proposed.