Dong Sun
Virginia Commonwealth University, USA
Title: The potential of stem cell therapy for brain repair and regeneration following Neurotrauma
Biography
Biography: Dong Sun
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major health problem worldwide. Despite improving survival rate after TBI, currently, there is no effective treatment to improve neural structural repair and functional recovery of TBI survivors. It is now well established that in the mature mammalian brain, new neurons are generated throughout life in the neurogenic regions of the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus. The extent and the function of adult neurogenesis under neuropathological conditions have been explored in varying types of disease models in animals. Increasing evidence has indicated that this endogenous neurogenesis may play regenerative and reparative roles in response to CNS injuries or diseases. In the field of brain trauma, neural regeneration either through stimulating endogenous neural stem cells or through stem cell transplantation has gained increasing attention. This presentation will discuss recent development of strategies we and others have explored to facilitate the repair and regeneration of the injured brain following TBI through manipulating endogenous neurogenesis and through optimizing neural transplantation.