Abstract:

Peripheral nerve injuries not only bring long-term pain to the patients, but also seriously affect their quality of life. Of current techniques for the treatment of peripheral nerve injuries, besides the accurate microscopic surgery, Schwann cell (SC) transplantation has become an effective treatment, which plays a key role in the response of the peripheral nervous system to axonal injury. However, several drawbacks of autologous SC transplants, such as the limited sources for harvest, donor site morbidity, and difficulty expanding cells to obtain enough for transplant, have limited their use. Therefore, stem cells based therapy for improving peripheral nerve regeneration has gradually become a research hotspot in recent years. Menstrual blood derived endometrium stem cells (MenESCs) was first reported in 2007, and gained wider attention with its accessibility, no secondary surgical risk, rich source and genetic stability. Its multipotency has been demonstrated by directly differentiating them into chondrogenic, adipogenic, osteogenic, neurogenic, and cardiogenic cell lineages using the specific differentiation culture medium. This paper focuses on evaluating the therapeutic potential of MenESCs on the repair of peripheral nerve injury, and provides references to promote the clinical application of MenESCs on the peripheral nerve regeneration.

Key words: Stem cell, Menstrual blood derived endometrium stem cell, Peripheral nerve injury, Nerve regeneration