Induced pluripotent stem cells as a new approach in therapy for stroke

Stroke is the main cause of disability in Europe and second cause of death. Cell therapy have appeared as new approach in pre-clinical and clinical phases of experimentation. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are stem cells similar to embryonic stem cells but they can be obtained from somatic cells. We administrated iPSCs in an ischemic stroke model by systemic via and in a haemorrhagic stroke model by systemic and intracerebral via. Despite we did not find out any changes in lesion volume, we did observe improvements in functional tests in animals with systemic administration. Also iPSCs-treated animals showed increased neurogenesis in different ways. No tumour formation was detected. Cell tracking study revealed that most of cells travelled to liver and to a lesser extent to spleen and lungs