Reduction in programmed cell death and improvement in functional outcome of transient focal cerebral ischemia after administration of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in rats. Laboratory investigation.

Object: Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a potent hematopoietic growth factor that both enhances the survival and drives the differentiation and proliferation of myeloid lineage cells. Recent studies have suggested that GM-CSF has a neuroprotective effect against CNS injury. In this paper, the authors investigated the neuroprotective effect of GM-CSF on neuron survival and locomotor behavior in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemic injury.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor promotes survival of dopaminergic neurons in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced murine Parkinson's disease model.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a hematopoietic cytokine that has the potential for clinical application. The biological effects of GM-CSF have been well characterized, and include stimulation of bone marrow hematopoietic stem cell proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis of hematopoietic cells. In contrast, the therapeutic effects of GM-CSF on the central nervous system in acute injury such as stroke and spinal cord injury have been reported only recently.