title: The State of Play with iPSCs and Spinal Cord Injury Models.
abstract: The application of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technologies in cell based strategies, for the repair of the central nervous system (with particular focus on the spinal cord), is moving towards the potential use of clinical grade donor cells. The ability of iPSCs to generate donor neuronal, glial and astrocytic phenotypes for transplantation is highlighted here, and we review recent research using iPSCs in attempts to treat spinal cord injury in various animal models. Also discussed are issues relating to the production of clinical grade iPSCs, recent advances in transdifferentiation protocols for iPSC-derived donor cell populations, concerns about tumourogenicity, and whether iPSC technologies offer any advantages over previous donor cell candidates or tissues already in use as therapeutic tools in experimental spinal cord injury studies.
authors.affiliation: School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. stuart.hodgetts@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Stuart I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Hodgetts
authors.affiliation: Control of Pluripotency Laboratory, Department of Physiological Sciences I, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Hospital Clinic, Casanova 143, Barcelona 08036, Spain. edel.michael@gmail.com.|Faculty of Medicine, The University of Sydney Medical School, Division of Pediatrics and Child Health, Westmead Children's Hospital, Sydney 2010, Australia. edel.michael@gmail.com.|School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, and the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research (CCTRM), The University of Western Australia, Western Australia 6009, Australia. edel.michael@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Edel
authors.affiliation: School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. alan.harvey@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Alan R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Harvey
keywords: induced pluripotent stem cells; spinal cord injury; transplantation