ASA: Fat Stem Cells Repair Stroke Damage in Rats
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ASA: Fat Stem Cells Repair Stroke Damage in Rats
By Peggy Peck, Executive Editor, MedPage Today
Published: February 21, 2008
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Earn CME/CE credit
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NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 21 -- Stem cells harvested from adipose tissue limit neuronal damage caused by ischemic stroke and improve functional recovery, suggest studies in rats.
Rats that received both autologous adipose tissue stem cells and human adipose tissue stem cells 24 hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion demonstrated improved blood supply to the brain and decreased brain atrophy, said Keun-Hwa Jung, a medical student at Seoul National University, in South Korea.
Jung reported the findings today at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference for lead researcher Kon Chu, M.D., Ph.D., of Seoul National University Hospital. Action Points
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Explain to interested patients that this report is based on pre-clinical studies of an investigational treatment. It has no immediate clinical application.
This study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. The data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Adipose tissue is an attractive -- and abundant -- source for stem cells, noted Jeffrey L. Saver, M.D., the University of California at Los Angeles. "And cells can be harvested from fat tissue without causing the pain associated with harvesting cells from bone marrow," he added.
Adipose tissue stem cells are multipotent mesenchymal cells that have demonstrated the ability to give rise to other cell types-including bone and muscle cells.
Unlike other experiments with stem cells to treat stroke, the adipose tissue stem cells did not give rise to neurons, but they cells "appear to provide bystander protection to the injured brain cells so that they are able to recover," said Dr. Saver.
Dr. Chu and colleagues intravenously injected cultured human adipose tissue stem cells into study animals 24 hours after induced ischemic damage to the rats' brains. The animals were monitored for behavioral recovery, blood flow to the brain, brain atrophy and new blood vessel growth for 35 days.
The experiment was repeated with a second group of rats who were injected with autologous adipose stem cells.
Both groups were compared with vehicle infusions in the rat stroke model.
The human and autologous adipose tissue stem cells expressed multiple growth factors and growth receptors, which were associated with increased collateral blood supply to the brain, Jung said.
The human cells also reduced acute edema formation, as well as reducing apoptosis and inflammation and delayed glial scar formation compared with vehicle (P<0.05).
But Dr. Saver cautioned that the results were very preliminary. "Interesting, but not yet ready for clinical trials," he said.
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