title: Effects of neural progenitor cell transplantation in children with severe cerebral palsy.
abstract: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a chronic nervous system disease that severely damages the physical and developmental health of children. Traditional treatment brings about only improvement of mild to moderate CP, but severe CP still lacks effective interventions. To explore safety and efficacy  of using neural progenitor cells (NPCs) to treat CP in children, we performed NPC transplantation in 45 patients with severe CP by injecting NPCs derived from aborted fetal tissue into the lateral ventricle. Gross motor function measures (GMFM), the Peabody Developmental Motor Scale-Fine Motor  (PDMS-FM) test, and a unified survey questionnaire designed specifically for children with CP were used to evaluate neurological function of the patients. Motor development was significantly accelerated within the first month after cell transplantation, but the rate of improvement gradually  slowed to preoperative levels. However, after 1 year, the developmental level in each functional sphere (gross motor, fine motor, and cognition) of the treatment group was significantly higher compared to the control group. No delayed complications of this therapy were noted. These results  suggest that NPC transplantation is a safe and effective therapeutic method for treating children with severe CP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Navy General Hospital, No. 6 Fucheng Road, Beijing, P.R. China. luanzuo@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Zuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.forename: Weipeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Suqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Zhaoyan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yinxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Caiying
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D016380:Brain Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*