Cell Transplants Found to Aid Some Stroke Patients

A study evaluating the effects of human neuronal cells implanted in stroke patients to reverse neurologic deficits has found the treatment safe and feasible, with half the patients experiencing an improvement in motor function. In the patients who showed improvement, positron emission tomography (PET) showed increased metabolic activity in the area of the stroke, suggesting cell viability. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC, PA, USA).

The experimental treatment was administered to 12 stroke patients, nine men and three women, 44-74 years old. In eight patients, the stroke involved only the basal ganglia region of the brain and in four patients, both the basal ganglia and regional cortex were involved. All patients had stable neurologic deficits at least two months before transplantation. Four patients were treated with two million neurons implanted at three sites within the basal ganglia. The remaining eight patients were randomized to receive either two million neurons or a total of six million neurons implanted along three trajectories.

Outcomes measurements identified a trend toward improved scores in the patients who received six million neurons. At the 24-week followup, six of the 12 patients had improved scores, while three patients were unchanged, and three deteriorated.

"On future studies, we plan to use additional instruments that will evaluate persistent neuralgic deficits and their impact on function,” said Douglas Kondziolka, M.D., professor of neurologic surgery and radiation oncology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The implanted neurons were from a human teratocarcinoma. Scientists used several chemicals to transform this cell line into fully differentiated nondividing human neuronal cells that can be used in clinical applications. A surgeon, guided by computed tomography (CT), injects the cells through a small opening in the skull, and patients leave the hospital the next day.