Transplantation of human mesenchymal stem cells in the study of neuropathic pain.

Neuropathic pain is a complex disease that involves several molecular pathways. Due to its individual character, the treatment of neuropathic pain is extremely difficult. Currently available drugs do not affect the mechanisms underlying the generation and propagation of pain. Therefore, pain research is now focused on molecular approaches such as stem cell therapy. Stem cells mediate neuroprotection in a variety of nervous system injury models. We used spared nerve injury (SNI) model of neuropathic pain to assess the possible use of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as neuroprotective tool in the regenerative medicine. We conclude that stem cell transplantation could be a useful therapeutic tool in the future of regenerative medicine.