Evelyn Galvez
Biology 1615
July 2, 2018
Defining the Optimal Window for Cranial Transplantation of
Introduction
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy (radiation) are destructive methods used to destroy the
fastest growing cells in the human body. Cancerous cells multiply rapidly which is why
these methods are used when treating those with cancer. However, the human body
has many different types of cells which also multiply at astonishing rates. Therefore,
chemotherapy and radiotherapy do not just destroy cancerous cells; these treatments
destroy hair cells, bone marrow, cells within the brain like progenitor cells, neural cells,
(creation of new neurons), cause or increase neural inflammation, and compromise the
structure of the neurons in the brain which can have devastating effects. Munjal M.
Acharya, Vahan Martirosian, Lori-Ann Christie, Lara Riparip, Jan Strnadel, Vipan K.
Parihar, and Charles L. Limoli are a group of scientists that conducted an experiment on
rats to test the cognitive effects of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) in patients who
have received chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The overall goal for these scientists is to
find the best possible time to graft human neural stem cells into the hippocampus of the
In this experiment, 44 male 2-month old rats were separated into 5 different groups.
Group 1 received no irradiation with sham-surgery controls. Group 2 was irradiated but
had sham-surgery controls. Groups 3-5 were irradiated and engrafted with hNSCs at
different times. Group 3 was engrafted 2 days after irradiation, Group 4 was engrafted 2
weeks after irradiation, and Group 5 was engrafted 4 weeks after irradiation. The rats
that were irradiated and engrafted with hNSCs (groups 3-5) were tested 1 month after
the transplantation of the stem cells. These rats underwent novel place recognition
(NPR) testing that assessed spatial recognition memory and contextual fear-
conditioning in the hippocampus. Once cognitive testing had been completed, the rats
were sacrificed, and their brains were processed for coronal sectioning. The brains were
then stained and examined in order to identify possible newly activated microglia.
Results
Results of this experiment showed that the rats that received hNSCs had definite
performance when compared to the rats that had sham-surgery controls and did not
receive grafted human stem cells. Within Groups 3-5, Group 5 showed superior
performance. This is evidence that postponing surgery to engraft hNSCs 4 weeks after
irradiation will result in the most positive outcome in improving cognitive dysfunction.
Within the brains of the Group 5 subjects, significant analysis presented differentiation
of the majority of grafted neural stem cells into multiple immature and even mature
created a possible relief for cancer survivors through stem cell therapy and may
improve quality of life for many individuals suffering from any of the inadvertent side-
References
Defining the Optimal Window for Cranial Transplantation of Human Induced Pluripotent
Stem Cell-Derived Cells to Ameliorate Radiation-Induced Cognitive Impairment.
Munjal M. Acharya, Vahan Martirosian, Lori-Ann Christie, Lara Riparip, Jan Strnadel,
Vipan K. Parihar, and Charles L. Limoli