The Effects of Stem Cells on Cerebral Palsy
Abstract
Juley M Harper and Vincent S Gallicchio
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that hinders normal motor activity and muscle coordination. CP typically appears before, during, or soon after birth as the brain is still developing. The severity of this multifactorial condition depends on the damage done to the parts of the brain that control muscle tone and body movement. The insult in the underdeveloped brain prohibits normal growth; neurons and oligodendrocytes will either die or fail to develop, and the white matter tracts that connect various brain regions become malfunctional. Cerebral palsy is classified into different types depending on the areas of the brain that were insulted and the nature of the movement disorder: spasticity, dyskinesia, and ataxia. Abnormal brain development in patients with CP cannot be reversed, but various treatments are shown to improve and normalize the symptoms. Stem cell transplantation, a regenerative therapy that can replace the damaged and non-functional cells of the brains in CP patients, has shown effective results. Embryonic stem cells (ESC), mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), human amnion epithelial cells (hAEC), and neural stem cells (NSC) are infused to reproduce into more specialized cell types. This alternative therapeutic method has shown successful results through preclinical animal research and clinical trials.