Stem Cells, bioengineering, and 3-D scaffolds for nervous system repair and regeneration

Abstract

A fundamental issue in biology concerns how cells establish and maintain their identity during early embryogenesis. Gaining a better understanding of these rules is key to future development of experimental therapeutics and is an important foundation of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. With the successful isolation of embryonic stem cells and the emergence of induced pluripotent stem cell technologies, it has become achievable to recapitulate developmental processes of early development. Furthermore, the advent of cellular reprogramming and transdifferentiation technologies has made it possible to implement rational strategies to generate specific cell types in order to model neurodegenerative diseases and develop cell-based therapies for nervous system disorders. Moreover, with advances in biomaterials and in 3-D scaffold fabrication techniques, it is becoming possible to mimic the neural stem cell niche. In this chapter, we provide an overview of approaches merging stem cells, polymeric scaffolds, drug delivery systems, gene therapy, cellular engineering, and biomaterials to develop experimental strategies for neural tissue engineering. Combined, these enabling technologies are likely to be beneficial for development of therapeutic interventions for translation to the clinic. A summary of a number of current clinical trials is also presented at the end to illustrate how combination of these technologies is helping nervous system rescue and repair.