Research team succeeds in intranasal delivery of stem cells to brain

"[I]t is possible without surgery to deliver stem cells to the brain," says Dr. William H. Frey (pictured) of the University of Minnesota in the August 3rd issue of Neurology Today. According to the article, a team including Frey have shown that stem cells delivered intranasally in the rat can bypass the blood-brain barrier and make their way into the brain. This kind of delivery mechanism brings us one step closer to stem cell therapy for the central nervous system. The stem cells used in the study are of two types: bone marrow derived, and human glioma cells. Both types of stem cells were shown to reach the brain within an hour. "This could revolutionize regenerative medicine," said Frey. The original report appears in the European Journal of Cell Biology (Danielyan L, Shafer R, Frey WH, et al. Intranasal delivery of cells to the brain. Eur J Cell Biol 2009;88(6)315-324. E-pub 2009 Mar 25).