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Abstract
Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and long-term disability globally. However, the few approved treatments for ischemic stroke have limited clinical accessibly and applicability and no restorative capacity. Therefore, an ongoing need for research and development of novel regenerative therapeutics is present. To meet that need, use of a highly translatable porcine model to study cell-based novel therapeutics may fill current knowledge gaps. Porcine brains, as compared to rodents, are more similar to humans in cerebral size, cytoarchitecture, and composition which makes it more clinically relevant in testing and measuring novel therapeutic benefits. Exogenous neural stem cell (NSC) transplants show promise as a pleiotropic, regenerative therapy capable of generating new neural cells, stimulating damaged tissue recovery, and restoring functional and behavioral deficits after ischemic stroke. Pre-clinical testing of novel NSC therapy for treatment of ischemic stroke in the porcine model may improve future extrapolation to human clinical trials.