From bone to brain: human skeletal stem cell therapy for stroke.

Human adult skeletal stem cells, a.k.a. mesenchymal stem cells or marrow stromal cells (MSCs), have been identified as precursors of several different mesenchymal cellular lineages, including osteoblasts, chondrocytes, myoblasts, adipocytes, and fibroblasts, as well as non-mesenchymal lineages including neurons and glial cells. Adult stem cell transplantation is a promising strategy for the treatment of stroke. MSCs are also used as a platform for gene therapies and therapeutic agents. In this review, we discuss recent progress of human skeletal stem cell biology, in vitro differentiation of MSCs into neural stem cells and neurons, MSC therapy for stroke, MSC aging and the challenge of autologous cell therapy for stroke in elderly patients.