Treatment of Central Nervous System Diseases with Polymer-Encapsulated Xenogeneic Cells

Abstract

One of the major goals of neuroscience research is to develop effective treatments for clinical disorders. It is generally accepted that the discovery and development of effective, novel treatments is more efficient (i.e., faster and less costly) if those efforts are guided by a rational plan of action, based on careful consideration of the available data. Although tremendous technical and conceptual advances have been made in the neurosciences and considerable information about many neurological disorders has become available, it is still difficult to formulate a plan of action that can assure success because so many fundamental questions remain unanswered. For example, among the most problematic of the neurological disorders are those associated with the loss of brain neurons. Although we continue to learn more and more about the pathology and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases, congenital disorders, and strokes, very little is known about the specific mechanisms that mediate cell death. In fact, some research findings in these areas serve more to elucidate how little we truly understand about the etiology of these disorders and to stimulate the articulation of new questions that need to be addressed than to point the way toward a specific solution. As long as questions remain about the primary etiology and pathological mechanisms that mediate cell death, some uncertainty will remain about which avenues of research will produce effective preventative or palliative treatments for these disorders.