Stroke alters behavior of human skin-derived neural progenitors after transplantation adjacent to neurogenic area in rat brain

Background: Intracerebral transplantation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can ameliorate behavioral deficits in animal models of stroke. How the ischemic lesion affects the survival of the transplanted cells, their proliferation, migration, differentiation, and function is only partly understood. Methods: Here we have assessed the influence of the stroke-induced injury on grafts of human skin iPSCs-derived long-term neuroepithelial-like stem cells using transplantation into the rostral migratory stream (RMS), adjacent to the neurogenic subventricular zone, in adult rats as a model system. Results: We show that the occurrence of an ischemic lesion, induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion, in the striatum close to the transplant does not alter the survival, proliferation, or generation of neuroblasts or mature neurons or astrocytes from the grafted progenitors. In contrast, the migration and axonal projection patterns of the transplanted cells are markedly influenced....