Glial scar brain and spinal cord. FGF2 has also been shown to increase astrocyte proliferation "in vitro". Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a cytosolic protein that is not secreted. CNTF has been shown to promote the survival of neuronal cultures "in vitro", and it can also act as a differentiator and trophic factor on glial cells. Further, CNTF has been previously shown to affect the differentiation of glial precursor cells "in vitro"; however, the influence of CNTF in the "in vivo" setting has only recently been determined. Winter "et al." used CNTF over-expressing transgenic mice as well as wildtype controls that had
Clinical uses of mesenchymal stem cells Clinical uses of mesenchymal stem cells Adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being used by researchers in the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, to artificially reconstruct human tissue which has been previously damaged. Mesenchymal stem cells have the capacity to become any type of fully developed cell, which can contribute to replacing muscle tissues or internal organs. To help discover the therapeutic uses of these stem cells they are grown in laboratories or by using medication to stimulate new cell growth within the human body. In MSC therapy the cells are extracted from the adult patient’s bone marrow