Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results from a sudden and external physical insult to the head, which is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Current clinical therapy is focused on optimization of the acute/subacute intracerebral milieu, minimizing continued cell death, and subsequent intense rehabilitation to ameliorate the prolonged physical, cognitive, and psychosocial deficits that result from TBI. Given the limited capacity of the central nervous system for self-repair, progenitor (stem) cell therapies have shown promise following TBI in pre-clinical studies and remain a focus of intense scientific investigation. This paper will review some of the progress and barriers involved with stem cell therapies for the treatment of TBI.
