Recent Advances in Stem Cell Therapy for Brain Disease

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, stem cell therapy has emerged as a promising and advanced scientific research topic. Stem cells possess the unique ability to continuously replenish themselves, called “self-renewal”, and develop into many different types of cells comprising the human body (via a process of “differentiation”), such as muscle cells, blood cells, or brain cells. Stem cell therapy is a branch of regenerative medicine that aims to enhance the body's repair machinery via stimulation, modulation, and regulation of the endogenous stem cell population, and/or by replenishing the cell pool, contributing toward tissue homeostasis and regeneration. Medical treatments are already having an impact on patients in a clinical setting. The flexibility and adaptability of these cells make them especially exciting new therapeutic options, both for rebuilding damaged brain tissues and for combatting neurodegenerative diseases. In recent decades, researchers found significantly improved outcomes for mesenchymal stem cell-treated patients compared with those receiving sham treatment. MSCs are well known for their homing capacity, immunomodulatory effects, and secretion of paracrine factors to repair tissues and induce functional recovery. In fact, the effect of paracrine modulation through the secretion of bioactive molecules, including lipids, proteins, free nucleic acids and different types of extracellular vesicles (EV), is well documented.

This Special Issue invites authors and researchers to participate in the discussion and exploration with contributions of both articles and reviews, expanding our understanding of the use of stem cells in neuroscience.

Dr. Alejandro Arturo Canales-Aguirre
Dr. Ulises Gomez-Pinedo
Dr. Jorge Matias-Guiu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• stem cells
• cell therapy
• neurodegenerative diseases
• cell differentiation
• neuroregeneration