GABA-ergic cell therapy for epilepsy: Advances, limitations and challenges

Diminution in the number of gamma-amino butyric acid positive (GABA-ergic) interneurons and their axon terminals, and/or alterations in functional inhibition are conspicuous brain alterations believed to contribute to the persistence of seizures in acquired epilepsies such as temporal lobe epilepsy....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 2016-03, Vol.62, p.35-47
Main Authors: Shetty, Ashok K, Upadhya, Dinesh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Cell Differentiation - physiology
Epilepsy - physiopathology
Epilepsy - therapy
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - therapy
GABAergic Neurons - cytology
Hippocampus - cytology
Humans
Neural Stem Cells - cytology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Diminution in the number of gamma-amino butyric acid positive (GABA-ergic) interneurons and their axon terminals, and/or alterations in functional inhibition are conspicuous brain alterations believed to contribute to the persistence of seizures in acquired epilepsies such as temporal lobe epilepsy. This has steered a perception that replacement of lost GABA-ergic interneurons would improve inhibitory synaptic neurotransmission in the epileptic brain region and thereby reduce the occurrence of seizures. Indeed, studies using animal prototypes have reported that grafting of GABA-ergic progenitors derived from multiple sources into epileptic regions can reduce seizures. This review deliberates recent advances, limitations and challenges concerning the development of GABA-ergic cell therapy for epilepsy. The efficacy and limitations of grafts of primary GABA-ergic progenitors from the embryonic lateral ganglionic eminence and medial ganglionic eminence (MGE), neural stem/progenitor cells expanded from MGE, and MGE-like progenitors generated from human pluripotent stem cells for alleviating seizures and co-morbidities of epilepsy are conferred. Additional studies required for possible clinical application of GABA-ergic cell therapy for epilepsy are also summarized.
ISSN:0149-7634
1873-7528
DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.12.014