Shanghai Autologous neural stem cell implantation was successfully accomplished in Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University The success of this surgical procedure may signify a new step forward in treatment of cerebral injury. The patient was a female 40 years of age, with a cerebral trauma as deep as 10 cm resulted from being stabbed , causing severe damage of bilateral frontal lobes and the cerebral cortex. The patient had evident functional disturbance of bilateral arms and fine orientation function of the fingers. The medical personnel of the department of neurosurgery successfully cultured nerve stem cells from the destroyed brain tissue of the patient. In order to test the special features of the nerve stem cells, the researchers carried out in vitro proliferation and differentiation experiments using the cloned nerve stem cells for implantation to the brains of nude mice to observe their potentials of motivation and differentiation. Additionally experimental study of nerve stem cell transplantation in macaque brain was also done.
Professor Zhou Liangfu, chief surgeon of the department of neurosurgery adopted the technology of MRI stereo orientation for nerve stem cells transplantation in order to transplant anew the successfully cultured stem nerve cells accurately to the special target point inside the brain. To avoid the influence of cell culture medium upon nerve stem cell plantation, the nerve stem cells were suspended in the CSF of the patient herself following centrifugation and washing. The operation lasted for 3 hours and approximately 5,000,000 cells were implanted into the patient's brain by means of multiple points injection.
In contrast to the conventional method of embryo stem cell transplantation used internationally, the above mentioned autologous stem cell transplantation used neural stem cells of the adult, thus the postoperative rejection reaction was avoided. The convalescence immediately following the operation was uneventful, and 15 days later, acceleration of functional recovery of the nerve was seen. With the help of some training, the patient's fine movement functions such as knitting wool sweater and making dumplings were restored. On the 20th day after the operation, the patient was discharged from the hospital and on the same day, the PET test revealed improvement of the injured area in comparison to the status of pre- implantation. Understandably, the patient should have follow-up examinations for the observation of the long-term results.
Professor Zhou pointed out that regeneration and repair of cerebral injury involvea complicated biological process and autologous transplantation of the nerve stem cells was aimed at searching the potential of cellular healing in absence of immune rejection. There are still many barriers to overcome for perfect repair of cerebral injury and a close observation and evaluation of the long term effects are mandatory.
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