Epidermal growth factor and erythropoietin infusion accelerate functional recovery in combination with rehabilitation.

Background And Purpose: Rehabilitation is the only treatment option for chronic stroke deficits, but unfortunately, it often provides incomplete recovery. In this study, a novel combination of growth factor administration and rehabilitation therapy was used to facilitate functional recovery in a rat model of cortical stroke.

Methods: Ischemia was induced via injection of endothelin-1 into the sensorimotor cortex.

Effectiveness of micron-sized superparamagnetic iron oxide particles as markers for detection of migration of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells in a stroke model.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using micron-sized superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (MPIOs) as an effective labeling agent for monitoring bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell (BMSC) migration in the brain using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a rat model of stroke and whether the accumulation of MPIO-labeled BMSCs can be differentiated from the accumulation of free MPIO particles or hemoglobin breakdown at a site of neuronal damage.

Materials And Methods: In this study BMSCs were labeled with iron oxide and their pattern of migration following intravenous injection in a rat stroke model was monitored using a clinical MRI system followed by standard histopathology. The migration pattern was compared between intravenous injection of BMSCs alone, BMSCs labeled with MPIOs, and MPIO particles alone.

Cyclosporin A has direct effects on adult neural precursor cells.

Multipotent, self-renewing neural stem cells and their progeny [collectively referred to as neural precursor cells (NPCs)] represent a population of cells with great promise for CNS repair. To effectively harness their potential for therapeutic applications, the factors that regulate NPC behavior and/or fate must be well understood. The ability of immunomodulatory molecules to affect NPC behavior is of interest because of recent work elucidating the complex interactions between the immune system and nervous system.