AUTHOR=Fernández-García Laura , Pérez-Rigueiro José , Martinez-Murillo Ricardo , Panetsos Fivos , Ramos Milagros , Guinea Gustavo V. , González-Nieto Daniel 

TITLE=Cortical Reshaping and Functional Recovery Induced by Silk Fibroin Hydrogels-Encapsulated Stem Cells Implanted in Stroke Animals

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2018.00296

DOI=10.3389/fncel.2018.00296

ISSN=1662-5102

ABSTRACT=<p>The restitution of damaged circuitry and functional remodeling of peri-injured areas constitute two main mechanisms for sustaining recovery of the brain after stroke. In this study, a silk fibroin-based biomaterial efficiently supports the survival of intracerebrally implanted mesenchymal stem cells (mSCs) and increases functional outcomes over time in a model of cortical stroke that affects the forepaw sensory and motor representations. We show that the functional mechanisms underlying recovery are related to a substantial preservation of cortical tissue in the first days after mSCs-polymer implantation, followed by delayed cortical plasticity that involved a progressive functional disconnection between the forepaw sensory (FLs<sub>1</sub>) and caudal motor (cFLm<sub>1</sub>) representations and an emergent sensory activity in peri-lesional areas belonging to cFLm<sub>1</sub>. Our results provide evidence that mSCs integrated into silk fibroin hydrogels attenuate the cerebral damage after brain infarction inducing a delayed cortical plasticity in the peri-lesional tissue, this later a functional change described during spontaneous or training rehabilitation-induced recovery. This study shows that brain remapping and sustained recovery were experimentally favored using a stem cell-biomaterial-based approach.</p>