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Open Access Review Article Issue
Advances and prospects of cell therapy for spinal cord injury patients
Journal of Neurorestoratology 2022, 10 (1): 13-30
Published: 05 March 2022
Downloads:494

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is catastrophic damage for patients, their family, and society. Researchers and clinicians have been trying to find neurorestorative methods to recover their injured functions and structures. Cell therapy is one of the effective therapeutic strategies for SCI. And it can partially restore their neurological functions, which are once thought as permanent neurological deficits. Currently, cells being used therapeutically in clinic include olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), mononuclear cells (MNCs), mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), Schwann cells, and hematopoietic stem cells, cell products differentiated from embryonic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and neural stem cells as well as other kinds of cells. Real world data from these cell therapies showed some benefits in some patients with SCI. Due to being affected by many factors, the therapeutic results of some kinds of cells are contradictory and it is hard to compare effects among different types of cells. According to the data of cell therapies, OEC, MNC and MSC transplantation are applied for patients in majority percentage of cases, and OEC transplantation had a higher percentage of benefits. In next step, under the unified standard of cell preparation and quality control as well as the guidelines of clinical cell application, each kind of cells including OECs should be studied using prospective, multicenter, double-blind or observing-blind, placebo-control, randomized studies for SCI patients with different level of injury and chronicity.

Open Access Case Report Issue
Diagnosis and treatment of micro-entrapment syndrome of nerves innervating the face: A report of two cases
Journal of Neurorestoratology 2022, 10 (1): 66-71
Published: 05 March 2022
Downloads:403

The term "micro-entrapment syndrome of nerves innervating the face (MESNIF)" is a relatively new concept. It refers to the micro-entrapment of facial nerve (trigeminal nerve and facial nerve) terminals for various reasons, resulting in one-side facial discomfort, subjective sensory abnormalities, or stiffness, and in certain cases, localized micro muscle movement abnormalities and motor disharmony. It is frequently caused by facial paralysis or chronic trigeminal neuritis or injury, and is prevalent in clinical practice. Peripheral facial paralysis affects 60%-70% of people. Both men and women are susceptible to it. It is most common in young and middle-aged women. At the moment, there are two types of therapy options for this disease: nonsurgical treatments and surgical treatments. Among surgical treatments, pulsed radiofrequency has good curative results. This paper describes two typical situations that had good curative effects.

Open Access Letter to the Editor Issue
Tiger face: characteristic manifestations of Meige syndrome
Brain Science Advances 2021, 7 (4): 263-265
Published: 10 January 2022
Downloads:6

Meige syndrome is a neurological disorder discovered by Henry Meige, a French neurologist. The initial clinical manifestations are blepharospasm in both eyes and the characteristic facial appearance of tiger face lines. The patient displays an abnormal facial expression. Trauma, psychological, endocrine, and pharmacological factors may play a role in secondary Meige syndrome. Here we describe these clinical signs with pictures.

Open Access Review Article Issue
Advances in the study of nervous system infections in COVID-19
Brain Science Advances 2021, 7 (3): 163-171
Published: 08 December 2021
Downloads:75

Shortly after its outbreak, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has very rapidly spread to become a global epidemic. Early clinical findings mainly included typical symptoms such as fever and cough with a very high transmission rate. Recent findings have demonstrated neurological manifestations of atypical symptoms, which is associated with poor prognosis. In this paper, we describe the neurological aspects of COVID-19 pneumonia in terms of relevant neurons, virus-associated receptors, and olfactory and neurological clinical manifestations and offer insights on treatment.

Open Access Editorial Issue
Special issue on guidelines and standards in Neurorestoratology
Journal of Neurorestoratology 2020, 8 (4): 195-196
Published: 07 February 2021
Downloads:18

Open Access Highlight Issue
Summary report of the 11th Annual Conference of International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR)
Journal of Neurorestoratology 2019, 7 (1): 1-7
Published: 29 April 2020
Downloads:16

The 11th Annual Conference of the International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR) was held from October 2nd to 4th at the University of Rutgers, New Jersey, USA, in which the most highlight was to report many frontier clinical trials. This summary report tries to display mainly presenting achievements in this conference.

Open Access Original Article Issue
Comparison of different microsurgery methods for trigeminal neuralgia
Brain Science Advances 2016, 2 (3): 183-187
Published: 01 September 2016
Downloads:2
Objective:

To study the influence of different microsurgical methods on surgical outcomes and complications, and to improve the surgical outcomes for trigeminal neuralgia.

Methods:

The clinical data of 109 patients with trigeminal neuralgia, who were treated with microsurgery, were analyzed retrospectively. All patients were divided into 3 groups according to surgical modality: the trigeminal neuralgia decompression group (TND group, 19 patients), the TND and rhizotomy group (rhizotomy group, 55 patients), and the TND and selective lesioning group (lesioning group, 35 patients). The mid-term and short-term effects of microsurgery, and the occurrences of complications, were compared between the 3 groups.

Results:

There were no statistical differences in the frequency of complications between the 3 groups (P > 0.05). Eighty-four patients were followed up for 6 to 33 months. The rate of pain disappearance was found to be 94.4% in the TND group, and 100% in both the rhizotomy and lesioning groups; thus, no significant differences were found between these 3 groups (P > 0.05). Additionally, 50% of the patients in the rhizotomy group and 3.6% of the patients in the lesioning group had facial numbness while no patients were affected with facial numbness in the TND group, and the differences between these 3 groups were significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusions:

Microsurgery is effective and safe for trigeminal neuralgia. The use of TND, in combination with selective lesioning, ensures therapeutic efficacy and improves the quality of life in postoperative patients.

Open Access Review Issue
Progress in the research and development of nerve conduits
Brain Science Advances 2015, 1 (2): 97-101
Published: 01 December 2015
Downloads:10

The reconstruction after peripheral nerve damage, especially for long-segment nerve defects, remains a clinical challenge. Autologous nerve graft transplantation is an efficient method for the repair of peripheral nerve defects, but the involved complications and shortcomings have greatly limited the clinical efficacy of treatments offered to patients with nerve defects. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies and explore alternatives to autologous nerve transplantation in clinical practice, based on the knowledge of the peripheral nerve regeneration mechanism and biological histocompatibility principles. With significant advances in the research and application of nerve conduits, they have been used to repair peripheral nerve injury for several decades. In this paper, the study background of nerve conduits, their applications in clinic, status of conduit material research and construction of tissue-engineered artificial nerves were reviewed.

Open Access Research Article Issue
Controlled release of nerve growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor combined with small-gap anastomosis enhances sciatic nerve regeneration
Brain Science Advances 2015, 1 (1): 25-30
Published: 01 September 2015
Downloads:2
Objectives:

Nerve regeneration after peripheral nerve injury is a slow process with a limited degree of functional recovery, resulting in a high disability rate. Thus, accelerating the rate of nerve regeneration and improving the degree of nerve repair is a clinical challenge. This study aimed to investigate the role of growth factor gel combined with small-gap nerve anastomosis in the regeneration of sciatic nerve injury in rats. This was achieved by injecting nerve growth factor (NGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) gel into a silicon chamber that bridged the transection of the nerve.

Methods:

In 27 randomly chosen Sprague Dawley rats, a sharp blade was used to transect the right hind leg sciatic nerve. The rats were divided into 3 groups: in groups A and B, silicon tubes containing NGF and bFGF gel or saline, respectively, were used to bridge the nerve proximal and distal ends (3-mm gap), and in group C, the nerve proximal and distal ends were directly sutured. Eight weeks after surgery, the sciatic nerve function index, neural electrophysiology, and muscle wet weight as well as histological, ultrastructural, and immunohistochemical parameters were evaluated.

Results:

The sciatic nerve function index, nerve conduction velocity, muscle wet weight, density of regenerated nerve fibers, and myelination in group A were better than those in group B or C, but the sciatic nerve function index, muscle wet weight, and thickness of myelination in the 3 groups were not significantly different (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences innerve conduction velocity between groups A and B (P > 0.05), but it was higher in both groups than that of group C (P < 0.05). The regenerated nerve fiber density in the 3 groups showed significant differences (P < 0.05).

Conclusions:

Small-gap nerve anastomosis can provide a good regenerative microenvironment for rat sciatic nerve regeneration, and the combined strategy of growth factor gel with small-gap nerve anastomosis appears to have a superior effect on nerve repair.

Open Access Review Issue
Clinical neurorestorative progress in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Journal of Neurorestoratology 2015, 3 (1): 109-114
Published: 06 August 2015
Downloads:5

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive paralysis and motor neuron death. In addition to symptomatic managements such as ventilation and nutritional support, neurorestorative therapies have demonstrated anti-neurodegenerative potential and may improve quality of life for patients. Currently, clinical neurorestorative strategies include pharmacological management (granulocyte colony stimulating factor), neuromodulatory intervention (repetitive transcranial magnetic and cortical stimulation), cell transplantation (bone marrow stromal cells, olfactory ensheathing cells, granulocyte colony stimulating factor-mobilized peripheral blood stromal cells, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, neural stem/progenitor cells, CD133+ cells and CD34+ cells), bioengineering and tissue engineering therapy, and combined neurorehabilitative treatment. In this review, we describe the latest progress in clinical neurorestorative management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and discuss the underlying evidence base.

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