How Do Stem Cells Help the Brain Recover from Stroke?

A stroke causes injury to part of the brain. One potential treatment of stroke involves stem cells. Distinguished Professor Michael Chopp of the Department of Physics and his collegues at Henry Ford Hospital have recently published a paper titled "Down-regulation of Neurocan Expression in Reactive Astrocytes Promotes Axonal Regeneration and Facilitates the Neurorestorative Effects of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells in the Ischemic Rat Brain" in the journal Glia (Volume 56, Pages 1747-1754, 2008). Chopp uses bone marrow stromal cells, which is a mixed population including mesenchymal stem cells: multipotent stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types. The ultimate goal of this research is to find treatments that allow the brain to more fully recover from a stroke by helping the damaged neurons in the brain regrow.