Commentary: Mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of spinal cord injury: mechanisms, current advances and future challenges

This commentary discusses a review article about using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to treat spinal cord injuries (SCI). It highlights the advantages of MSCs, such as their ability to modulate the immune system and ease of use. The authors also share their research on using sheep bone marrow MSCs in rats with SCI. They found evidence that these cells could integrate into the injury site and help with partial functional recovery. The commentary suggests that successful use of MSCs in SCI could broaden the possibilities for neuroregeneration. It also mentions the potential of stem cell therapies for other neurological conditions.

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  Xenogeneic sheep bone marrow MSCs can engraft at the injury site in a rat SCI model.
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  The transplanted cells showed de novo locally induced positivity for nestin, tubulin bIII, NG2 glia, neuron-specific enolase, vimentin and 200 kD neurofilament.
• 3
  Transdifferentiation of xenogenic MSCs into a neuroglial phenotype promoted partial functional recovery of motor functions in rats (P <0.001).