Stem Cell Therapy: Emerging Treatment for Functional Neurological Disorder

There are many different types of nervous system anomalies that fall under the umbrella of neurological disorders. These conditions are now the major cause of death and disability worldwide due to their increasing burden. The quality of life of the affected people decreases considerably while also deeply impacting their families. Many of the disorders are progressive in nature; that is, the tissue damage keeps increasing.

Types of Neurological Disorders

These disorders result from biological, genetic, and environmental factors. Below is the list of most common neurological disorders classified into the following:

Neurotraumatic disorders: These include the disorders caused by injury or trauma.

• Spinal Cord Injury: The spinal cord mediates the communication between the brain and body. Injury to its nerve cells due to accidents or falls disrupts the neural pathways connecting the brain and body.

• Brain Stroke: The obstructed blood flow or blood leakage from the ruptured blood vessels in the brain results in reduced blood supply to nerve cells and their eventual death.

Neurodegenerative Disorders: These disorders are marked by the destruction and loss of nerve cells.

• Alzheimer's Disease: The features of Alzheimer's are the accumulation of proteins in the brain and loss of neural circuitry, leading to a decline in memory.

• Parkinson’s Disease: It is caused by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons.

• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: The depletion of motor neurons leads to muscle weakness and paralysis.

• Multiple Sclerosis: Immune cells destroying nerve cell coatings cause neurons to die.

Neuropsychiatric Disorders: The underlying cause is the inadequate neural development for these disorders.

• Autism: It is marked by aberrations in the development of the nervous system, leading to a lack of social and communication skills.

• Cerebral Palsy: The abnormal brain development or injury in utero or during infancy, affecting movement and posture.

Functional Neurological Disorder

A functional neurological disorder is unique for showing symptoms that include nerve cell functions but without any neurological disorder or medical condition. Previously known as conversion disorder, it originates from psychological factors like chronic stressors, traumatic life events, etc. The common symptoms include weakness, tremors, and seizures. Studies demonstrate that it mostly affects people with low income and less education. Scientists have stated two hypotheses to explain the origination of the issue:

Psychodynamic Model: It suggests that the symptoms emerge as an inadequate coping mechanism to an emotional conflict. Emotional repression in the subconscious mind can manifest later in life as a functional neurological disorder triggered by a recent trauma.

Cognitive-Behavioral Model: It hypothesizes that an individual might have seen the symptoms in someone else and recreate them in the event of a trauma without any awareness.

These individuals face more depression, anxiety, and personality disorders than the ones with the previously mentioned neurological disorders.

Symptoms of Neurological Disorders

• Impaired memory and speech

• Poor communication skills

• Muscle weakness or stiffness

• Paralysis or movement disorders

• Poor coordination and balance

• Visual impairment

Treatment of Functional Neurological Disorder

The treatments of neurological diseases aim to manage the symptoms or delay the progression of diseases, which can improve the quality of patient life. Timely interventions have often resulted in better management of the diseases. Several medications also treat the comorbidities that arise from neurological disorders, such as gastrointestinal and psychological disorders, etc. Non-pharmacological interventions such as speech, occupational, language, and physical therapies also train the patients to handle daily tasks. Rehabilitation therapies, psychotherapy, and medications for symptomatic relief are employed to treat functional neurological disorder. However, none of the pharmacological drugs have shown restoration of the damaged tissue.

Stem Cell Therapy 

Regenerative medicine has a different approach from conventional therapy in that it focuses on restoring damage. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been employed vastly in clinical trials to exploit their regenerative abilities. Additionally, they also have the following properties that can act on the disorder in a multifaceted manner:

• Modulate immune responses to promote healing

• Activate endogenous repair mechanisms in nervous tissue.

• Reduce inflammation that causes further nerve cell damage. 

• Secrete nerve cell protecting factors.

The administration of MSCs has shown positive clinical outcomes, such as 

• Enhanced cognitive and communication skills

• Reduced lesion volume and recovery of neurological function.

• Improvement in motor and sensory functions.

Several studies have reported that MSC therapy does not cause adverse effects and is safe for application. Thus, MSCs can also treat functional neurological disorders by nerve regeneration, protection, and repair mechanisms.

Future Directions

The limitations of current medications for neurological diseases have highlighted the need for innovative therapies. MSCs have shown promising potential for neurological diseases.

Although the treatment is safe, clinical trials are still in their early stages. Researchers are working to improve stem cell preparation protocols, standardize the treatment process, better understand the underlying mechanism of MSC treatment, and boost the efficacy of MSC therapy. 

The encouraging results of MSC treatments indicate that a combination treatment of MSC therapy, pharmacological agents, and rehabilitative therapies will be employed soon for the treatment of functional neurological diseases. Advancells has been paving the way forward by providing premium quality stem cells manufactured following GMP-compliant protocols.