Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cells Research

KEY FINDING: Electrospun PLLA scaffolds, especially those with aligned nanofibers, promote nerve cell proliferation, guide neurite extension, and modulate macrophage polarization towards anti-inflammation.

KEY FINDING: Optimal neuroprotection in vitro was achieved with PBM between 4 and 22 mW/cm2, with 11 mW/cm2 for 1 min per day (0.66 J/cm2) increasing cell viability by 45% and neurite outgrowth by 25%.

KEY FINDING: Functional recovery in lampreys after spinal cord injury can occur through imperfect axonal regrowth and compensatory plasticity.

KEY FINDING: Cells do not emigrate from the spinal cord during tail regeneration, indicating that a new neural crest is not induced as in embryonic development.

KEY FINDING: Conditioned medium from bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMSCs) promotes neural stem cell differentiation into neurons and neurite outgrowth by inhibiting the BMP/Smad signaling pathway.

KEY FINDING: SKP-SCs survived long-term at the site of chronic SCI, integrated into the host spinal cord, and mitigated astroglial scar formation.

KEY FINDING: Addition of CSPGs to dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cultures resulted in a reduction of activated integrins and growth inhibition. By adding manganese to the cultures, both FAK phosphorylation and growth response was restored, indicating that integrin activation is sufficient to override the inhibitory effects of CSPGs.

KEY FINDING: Vascular injury is most severe initially at the epicenter and spreads to surrounding spinal cord regions, with a delayed vascular loss observed in peritraumatic regions.

KEY FINDING: Overexpression of constitutively active Rheb promoted survival of retinal ganglion cells in the acute (14 days) and chronic (21 and 42 days) stages of injury.

KEY FINDING: Intra-amniotic injection of allogeneic amniotic fluid mesenchymal stem cells (AF-MSCs) in the fetal rat model did not compromise fetal survival.