HuCNS-SC Human NSCs Fail to Differentiate, Form Ectopic Clusters, and Provide No Cognitive Benefits in a Transgenic Model of Alzheimer's Disease.

ABSTRACT: Transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) can improve cognition in animal models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, AD is a protracted disorder, and prior studies have examined only short-term effects. We therefore used an immune-deficient model of AD (Rag-5xfAD mice) to examine long-term transplantation of human NSCs (StemCells Inc.; HuCNS-SCs). Five months after transplantation, HuCNS-SCs had engrafted and migrated throughout the hippocampus and exhibited no differences in survival or migration in response to β-amyloid pathology. Despite robust engraftment, HuCNS-SCs failed to terminally differentiate and over a quarter of the animals exhibited ectopic human cell clusters within the lateral ventricle. Unlike prior short-term experiments with research-grade HuCNS-SCs, we also found n

SUBMITTER: Marsh SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5312253 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature