AANS Online Scientific Session: Stereotactic & Functional-Repopulation of Microglia Using Bone Marrow Transplantation As A Novel Therapeutic Platform for Neurological Disorders

Repopulation of Microglia Using Bone Marrow Transplantation As A Novel Therapeutic Platform for Neurological Disorders

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In the video, Kevin Kumar, a fourth-year neurosurgery resident at Stanford, presents their work on using bone marrow transplantation as a therapeutic platform for neurological disorders. They discuss the background of microglia and their role in the central nervous system. They explain the experimental goals of the project, including microglia replacement using bone marrow transplantation, enhancing transplantation efficiency, and applying it to mouse models of aging. They also explore the use of MR-guided focus ultrasound to permeabilize the blood-brain barrier for microglia replacement. The project finds that microglia replacement is slow, inefficient, and variable, but using a CSF1 receptor inhibitor improves the chimerism in the brain. They also discover that hematopoietic stem cells have the highest capacity for generating circulating-derived myeloid cells. Moreover, they observe that the age brain influences the transplanted cells, and MR-guided focus ultrasound can potentially eliminate the need for chemotherapeutic agents. The conclusion highlights the high-efficiency bone marrow transplant protocol and the potential of MR-guided focus ultrasound. Acknowledgments are given to colleagues in the Wernick Laboratory and the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford, as well as funding from the NINDS.

Asset Subtitle

Kevin K. Kumar, MD, PhD

Keywords

bone marrow transplantation

neurological disorders

microglia

blood-brain barrier

MR-guided focus ultrasound