Emerging Stem Cell Therapy and Tissue Engineering-Based Approaches in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases are a set of disorders with an increasing prevalence caused by the continuous loss of functional neurons. Treatment of neurodegenerative diseases has remained complicated due to the limited regenerative capacity of neural tissues; hence, the available therapeutic approaches are not resolute and primarily focus on resolving the symptoms. The application of tissue engineering brought new hopes to treating neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Tissue engineering mainly relies on three pillars: stem cells, scaffolds, and growth factors. Studies, mostly in animal models, indicated tissue engineering-based constructs could hugely improve the result of neurodegenerative disease treatment. The advent of new sources for harvesting stem cells, optimal methods for their differentiation, and advanced scaffolds led to improved treatment results for neurodegenerative diseases. However, the results of the studies were inconsistent; most of the studies were in vitro or in vitro; and clinical studies were limited.