Stem cells as a potential therapy for epilepsy

Neural stem cells and neural progenitors (NSC/NPs) hold great promise in neuro-restorative therapy due to their remarkable capacity for self-renewal, plasticity, and ability to integrate into host brain circuitry. Some types of epilepsy would appear to be excellent targets for this type of therapy due to known alterations in local circuitry based on loss or malfunction of specific types of neurons in specific brain structures. Potential sources for NSC/NPs include the embryonic blastocyst, the fetal brain, and adult brain and non-neural tissues. Each of these cell types has potential strengths and weaknesses as candidates for clinical therapeutic agents. This article reviews some of the major types of NSC/NPs and how they have been studied with regard to synaptic integration into host brain circuits. It also reviews how these transplanted cells develop and interact with host brain cells in animal models of epilepsy. The field is still wide open with a number of very promising results but there are also some major challenges that will need to be addressed prior to considering clinical applications for epilepsy.

► Neural stem cells are exciting potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of epilepsy.
► They can come from embryonic, fetal and adult tissue sources.
► Grafted neural stem cells can develop into neurons and glia that interact with the host brain cells.
► Stem/progenitor cell-derived, transplanted neurons can improve seizures in epilepsy models.