Transplantation of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells into Developing and Adult CNS

Neural transplantation has been a long-standing goal for the treatment of neurological injury and disease. The recent discovery of persistent pools of neural stem cells within the adult mammalian brain has reignited interest in transplant therapeutics. Since neural stem cells are self-renewing, it may be possible to culture and expand neural stem cells and their progenitor cell progeny to sufficient numbers for use in autologous, self-repair strategies. Such approaches will require optimized cultivation protocols, as well as extensive testing of candidate donor cells to assess their capacity for engraftment, survival, and integration. In this chapter, we describe the transplantation of neural stem/progenitor cells—cultivated as either neurospheres or neurogenic astrocyte monolayers—into the persistently neurogenic olfactory bulb system of the adult mouse forebrain, and into the cerebellum of neonatal mutant mice.