Stem Cell Therapy for Neurodegenerative Diseases

002 drugs against AD [7]. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were able to home on the injured brain and remove Abeta plaques from the hippocampus and to reduce Abeta deposits through the activation of endogenous microglia in an induced AD mouse model [8]. Human umbilical cord-derived MSCs have been shown to improve memory deficits, and reduce Abeta deposition [9]. Moreover, one report showed that dopaminergic neurons can be induced from human ESCs, iPSCs, and non-human primate iPSCs [10]. Another report showed that bFGF promoted human BMMSCs to trans-differentiate into neural like cells in vitro, and to play a therapeutic role in a PD animal model [11]. Human umbilical cordderived MSCs with overexpression of HGF can improve damaged neurons in PD animal models [12].