Transplantation of human umbilical cord blood cells in the repair of CNS diseases.

Cell transplantation therapies have been used to treat certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. However, ethical concerns over the use of fetal tissues, and the inherent complexities of standardising the procurement, processing and transplantation methods of this tissue, have prompted the search for a source of cells that have less ethical stigmatisations, are readily available and can be easily standardised. Several sources of human cells that meet these principles have been under investigation. Cells from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) are one source that is consistent with these principles; therefore, they have become of great interest in the field of cellular repair/replacement for the treatment of CNS diseases and injury. This review will focus on the advantages of HUCB cells as a source for cellular transplantation therapies, recent studies that have examined the potential of these cells in vitro to be directed towards neural phenotypes, and in vivo studies that have investigated the functional recovery of animals in a number of models of CNS injury and disease following administration of HUCB cells.