Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 12, 2026

Intratracheal Instillation of Stem Cells in Term Neonatal Rats
04:27

Intratracheal Instillation of Stem Cells in Term Neonatal Rats

Published on: May 4, 2020

The promise of stem cells in bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Megan O'Reilly1, Bernard Thébaud

  • 1Department of Pediatrics and Women and Children's Health Research Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Seminars in Perinatology
|April 16, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease in premature infants. Stem cell therapy shows promise for preventing and repairing lung injury in BPD models.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal Medicine
  • Regenerative Medicine
  • Pulmonology

Background:

  • Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a prevalent chronic lung disease affecting extremely preterm infants.
  • Advances in perinatal care increase survival but heighten the risk of lung injury in immature lungs.
  • Current treatments for BPD are limited, necessitating novel therapeutic approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review recent advancements in understanding lung stem cells in normal and impaired lung development.
  • To explore the potential of stem cell-based therapies for neonatal lung injury and BPD.
  • To summarize pre-clinical findings on mesenchymal stromal cells in experimental BPD models.

Main Methods:

  • Review of current literature on lung stem cell biology.
  • Analysis of pre-clinical studies investigating mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in BPD models.
  • Synthesis of data on MSCs' efficacy in preventing or repairing alveolar growth impairment.

Main Results:

  • Recent understanding of lung stem cell roles in development and injury.
  • Promising pre-clinical data demonstrating MSCs' potential to mitigate BPD-related lung damage.
  • Evidence suggests MSCs can prevent or repair impaired alveolar growth in experimental settings.

Conclusions:

  • Stem/progenitor cells offer a potential avenue for cell-based treatments for neonatal lung injury.
  • Mesenchymal stromal cells show significant promise in pre-clinical models for BPD.
  • Further research into stem cell therapies could lead to effective treatments for bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

More Related Videos

Tracheotomy: A Method for Transplantation of Stem Cells to the Lung03:45

Tracheotomy: A Method for Transplantation of Stem Cells to the Lung

Published on: February 25, 2007

Related Concept Videos

iPS Cell Differentiation01:22

iPS Cell Differentiation

The ability of induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs to differentiate into most body cell types has stimulated repair and regenerative medicine research over the past few decades. iPSC-derived blood cells, hepatocytes, beta islet cells, cardiomyocytes, neurons, and other cell types can repair injuries or regenerate damaged tissue in diseases such as diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders.
Stem Cell Culture01:17

Stem Cell Culture

Stem cell research aims to find ways to use stem cells to regenerate and repair cellular damage. Over time, most adult cells undergo the wear and tear of aging and lose their ability to divide and repair themselves. Stem cells do not display a particular morphology or function. Adult stem cells, which exist as a small subset of cells in most tissues, keep dividing and can differentiate into a number of specialized cells generally formed by that tissue. These cells enable the body to renew and...
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells01:13

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that divide and produce different types of cells. Ordinarily, cells that have differentiated into a specific cell type are post-mitotic—that is, they no longer divide. However, scientists have found a way to reprogram these mature cells so that they “de-differentiate” and return to an unspecialized, proliferative state. These cells are also pluripotent like embryonic stem cells—able to produce all cell types—and are therefore called induced pluripotent stem...
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells01:06

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that divide and produce different cell types. Ordinarily, cells that have differentiated into a specific cell type are terminally differentiated; however, scientists have found a way to reprogram these mature cells so that they dedifferentiate and return to an unspecialized, proliferative state. These cells are pluripotent like embryonic stem cells—able to produce all cell types—and are called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
Somatic cells are...
Embryonic Stem Cells00:57

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells were first discovered in mice in 1981 by Martin Evans. In 1998, James Thomson identified a method to isolate embryonic stem cells from humans. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are obtained from 3-5 day old embryos that remain unused after an in vitro fertilization procedure.
ES cells are grown in a culture medium where they can divide indefinitely, creating ES cell lines. Under certain conditions, ES cells can differentiate, either spontaneously into a variety of...
Embryonic Stem Cells00:58

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are undifferentiated pluripotent cells, meaning they can produce any cell type in the body. This gives them tremendous potential in science and medicine since they can generate specific cell types for use in research or to replace body cells lost due to damage or disease.