Home › Blog › Bone Marrow Stem Cells Aid in Stroke Recovery

Interesting animal study out this week showing that bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells given to rats the day after an induced stroke preserved movements in the rats that would otherwise be gone due to the stroke (preserved motor function). Interestingly, the timing of the delivery of the cells was important to protect the brain. We’ve found similar associations betwen the timing of the delivery of bone marrow stem cells after an induced orthopedic injury. “The timing of stem cell treatment was critical to the magnitude of the positive effects,” said Lorraine Iacovitti. “In the host animals we found profound changes and preserved brain structure along with long-lasting motor function improvement,” she added. Score another victory for bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells! This study is consistent with many others that show that bone marrow stem cells are capable of reducing heart attack damage, lung damage, and other types of tissue damage after major trauma.

Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile