Glial Progenitor Cell-Based Treatment and Modeling of Neurological Disease

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 338; no. 6106; pp. 491 - 495
• Main Authors: Goldman, Steven A., Nedergaard, Maiken, Windrem, Martha S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 26.10.2012; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cellular biology; Cerebral Palsy; Child; Chimera; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Demyelinating diseases; Demyelinating Diseases - therapy; Disease Models, Animal; Embryonic Stem Cells - cytology; Embryonic Stem Cells - physiology; Humans; Medical sciences; Mice; Models, Neurological; Myelin; Myelin Sheath - metabolism; Nervous system diseases; Neural stem cells; Neural Stem Cells - physiology; Neural Stem Cells - transplantation; Neurological disorders; Neurology; Oligodendroglia; Oligodendroglia - metabolism; Oligodendroglia - physiology; Oligodendroglia - transplantation; Pathogenesis; Pelizaeus Merzbacher disease; Progenitor cells; REVIEW; Stem cells; Nervous system diseases; Demyelination; Leukodystrophy; Pathogenesis; Central nervous system disease; Degenerative disease; Modeling; Cerebral disorder; Progenitor cell
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1218071

The diseases of myelin are among the most prevalent and disabling conditions in neurology. These diseases include both the vascular and inflammatory demyelinating disorders of adulthood, as well as the childhood leukodystrophies and cerebral palsy. These fundamentally glial disorders may be amenable to treatment by glial progenitor cells (GPCs), which give rise to astroglia and myelin-producing oligodendrocytes. Given the development of new methods for generating and isolating human GPCs, the myelin disorders may now be compelling targets for cell-based therapy. In addition, the efficient engraftment and expansion of human GPCs in murine hosts has led to the development of human glial chimeric mouse brains, which provides new opportunities for studying the species-specific roles of human glia in cognition, as well as in disease pathogenesis.