The Potential Role of Human Umbilical Cord Blood Cells in the Therapy of Perinatal Brain Damage

Introduction: Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HI) is a major cause of chronic neurologic morbidity, associated with extensive neuronal and glial cell loss. Affected children often develop spastic paresis and various disorders of sensorimotor coordination. Our previous studies identified cells derived from the mononuclear fraction of human umbilical cord blood (hucb) as a potential source for a cell-based regenerative therapy. Here we present molecular correlates for these functional observations and demonstrate that those are independent of the transplantation site. In addition, to quantify therapeutic effects of hucb-cell transplantation, we introduce three motor tests with high discriminative sensitivity for treatment effects and the potential for long term observation.