STEM CELLS FOR THE NEURAL REPAIR

Progressive degenerative diseases of the nervous system are characterized by an obscure etiology, pathogenic mechanisms for the repair capability and modest functional recovery. This means that the effects of these diseases are progressively ingravescent, inevitably leading to motor, sensitive-sensory and cognitive disabilities.

The progress in the field of stem cells has sparked hope for applications in regenerative medicine also in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. At the same time, the growing demand for effective therapeutic responses in this area has produced an offer of therapeutic proposals often uncontrolled and available on the Web, respect to which the patient and his family remain bewildered.

IRET is strongly committed to the study of the reparative ability of the central nervous system through stem cells, and IRET working group published important contributions on the role of endogenous neural stem cells in repair processes, and properties of different types of secretory cells, with particular reference to the secretion of neurotrophic factors. It is engaged in proper scientific information on these topics, without both cultivating false hopes in patients, and therapeutic expectations no scientifically proven.

Pubblicazioni

• Paradisi M, Fernández M, Del Vecchio G, Lizzo G, Marucci G, Giulioni M, Pozzati E, Antonelli T, Lanzoni G, Bagnara GP, Giardino L, Calzà L (2010) Ex vivo study of dentate gyrus neurogenesis in human pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy. Neuropathol. Appl. Neurobiol. 36:535-50. PubMed
• Calzà L, Fernandez M, Giardino L (2010) Cellular approaches to central nervous system remyelination stimulation: thyroid hormone to promote myelin repair via endogenous stem and precursor cells. J. Mol. Endocrinol. 44:13-23. PubMed
• Fernández M, Paradisi M, Del Vecchio G, Giardino L, Calzà L (2009) Thyroid hormone induces glial lineage of primary neurospheres derived from non-pathological and pathological rat brain: implications for remyelination-enhancing therapies. Int. J. Dev. Neurosci. 27:769-78. PubMed
• Giuliani A, Lorenzini L, Gallamini M, Massella A, Giardino L, Calzà L (2009) Low infra red laser light irradiation on cultured neural cells: effects on mitochondria and cell viability after oxidative stress. BMC Complement Altern Med 9:8. PubMed
• Del Vecchio G, Giuliani A, Fernandez M, Mesirca P, Bersani F, Pinto R, Ardoino L, Lovisolo GA, Giardino L, Calzà L (2009) Continuous exposure to 900MHz GSM-modulated EMF alters morphological maturation of neural cells. Neurosci. Lett. 455:173-7. PubMed
• Giuliani A, D'Intino G, Paradisi M, Giardino L, Calzà L (2004) p75(NTR)-immunoreactivity in the subventricular zone of adult male rats: expression by cycling cells. J. Mol. Histol. 35:749-58. PubMed
• Fernandez M, Pirondi S, Manservigi M, Giardino L, Calzà L (2004) Thyroid hormone participates in the regulation of neural stem cells and oligodendrocyte precursor cells in the central nervous system of adult rat. Eur. J. Neurosci. 20:2059-70. PubMed
• Calzà L, Fernandez M, Giuliani A, Pirondi S, D'Intino G, Manservigi M, De Sordi N, Giardino L (2004) Stem cells and nervous tissue repair: from in vitro to in vivo. Prog. Brain Res. 146:75-91. PubMed
• Giardino L, Bettelli C, Calzà L (2000) In vivo regulation of precursor cells in the subventricular zone of adult rat brain by thyroid hormone and retinoids. Neurosci. Lett. 295:17-20. PubMed