Somatische Stammzellen des zentralen Nervensystems

During neural development, the nervous system is created from stem cells that have the potential to proliferate, to reproduce (self-renew) themselves, and to differentiate into the appropriate neuronal and glial phenotypes. Although the adult brain has traditionally been thought of as a structure with very limited regenerative capacity, these neural stem cells have recently been shown to exist in the adult central nervous system (CNS) as well. In vitro and following transplantation, neural stem cells obtained from the fetal and adult brain are able to generate neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, the three major CNS cell types. Therefore, neural stem cells are potential sources for specialized neural cells needed to treat a variety of neurological disorder. The present review describes how somatic stem cells of the central nervous system can be cultivated in vitro and to which extend stem cell transplantation is effective in animal models for neurological diseases. Finally, a perspective is given on the potential clinical use of human neural stem cells for the treatment of neurological diseases.