Effect of 3-Dimensional Transplantation of Adult Human Brain Derived Neural Stem Cells Seeded in PuraMatrix in Animal Model of Spinal Cord Injury

A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to any part of the spinal cord or nerves at the end of the spinal canal that causes temporary or permanentchanges in its function. Therapeutic strategy for SCI includes stabilization surgery, pharmacotherapy and physical therapy. However, there is still no gold standard treatment with sufficient evidence. Inefficiency and adverse effects of standard therapy led to an interest indeveloping novel therapies for the condition. Stem cellbased therapies hold promise for SCI. Among different cell types, human neural stem cells cultured in selfassembling peptide scaffolds have been suggested as a potential novel method for cell replacement treatmentin SCI. Materials and Methods: In this study, we accessed the effects of human neural stem/progenitor cells (hNS/PCs) derived from epileptic human brain seeded in PuraMatrix hydrogel (PM) in an animal model of SCI. In the present study, also we investigated the efficiency of a recombinant lentivirus vector expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) for genetic engineering of human NS/PCs obtained during brain operation on patients with medically intractable epilepsy. Results: Transplantation of hNS/PCs seeded in PM improvedfunctional recovery, decreased lesion volume andreduced the reactive gliosis at the injury site. Our in vitro study revealed that lentivirus vector expressingGFP efficiently transduced about 80% of human NS/ PCs. Conclution: The data suggest the transplantation of hNS/PCs cultured in PM as a promising treatment option for cell replacement therapy in SCI.