Human embryonic stem cell-derived neural stem cells encapsulated in hyaluronic acid promotes regeneration in a contusion spinal cord injured rat

spinal cord injury (SCI) is a traumatic damage that can causes a loss of neurons around the lesion site and resulting in locomotor and sensory deficits. Currently, there is widely attempts in improvement of treatment strategy and cell delivering to the central nervous system (CNS). The usage of hyaluronic acid (HA), the main components of the ECM in CNS tissue and neural stem cells (NSCs) niche, is a good selection that can increase of viability and differentiation of NSCs. Importantly, we demonstrate that encapsulation of human embryonic stem cell derived-neural stem cells (hESC-NS) in HA-based hydrogel can increased differentiation these cells into oligodendrocytes and improved locomotor function. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.