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Pre-conditioning of MSCs by DFO before transplantation can improve stem cell homing in the damaged cochlea through PI3K/AKT pathway activation.

Studies show that gender plays an important role in stress-related disorders, and women are more vulnerable to its effect. The present study was undertaken to investigate differences in the change in expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and its tyrosine intracellular kinase-activating receptor (TrkB) genes in the male and female rats' hippocampus (HPC) under chronic mild repeated stress (CMRS) conditions. In this experiment, male and female Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: the CMRS and the control group. To induce stress, a repeated forced swimming paradigm was employed daily for adult male and female rats for 21 days. At the end of the stress phase, elevated plus maze (EPM) was used for measuring the stress behavioral effects. Serum corticosterone level was measured by ELISA. BDNF and TrkB gene methylation and protein expression in the HPC were detected using real-time PCR and Western blotting. Chronic stress in the adolescence had more effects on anxiety-like behavior and serum corticosterone concentration in female rats than males. Furthermore, stressed female rats had higher methylation levels and following reduced protein expression of BDNF but not TrkB compared to stressed male rats. These findings suggest that in exposure to a stressor, sex differences in BDNF methylation may be root cause of decreased BDNF levels in females and may underlie susceptibility to pathology development.

The data reviewed here suggest that PHD inhibitors are effective operators in improving stem cell therapy. However, because of some limitations, these compounds should be properly examined before clinical application.

Previous animal studies have shown that stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1)/CXC chemokine receptor-4 (CXCR4) signaling pathway plays an important role in the targeted migration of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) to the injured area. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential role of chemotactic SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling pathway in the homing of transplanted BMSCs to the injured cochlea after noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in a rat model. White noise exposure (110 dB) paradigm was used for hearing loss induction in male rats for 6 hours in 5 days. Distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) responses were recorded before the experiment and post noise exposure. Hoechst 33342-labeled BMSCs and CXCR4 antagonist (AMD3100)-treated BMSCs were injected into the rat cochlea through the round window. SDF-1 protein expression in the cochlear tissue was assayed using western blot assay. The number of labeled BMSCs reaching the endolymph was determined after 24 hours. SDF-1 was significantly increased in the cochlear tissue of rats in the noise exposure group than in the control group. The number of Hoechst 33342-labeled BMSCs reaching the endolymph of the cochlea was significantly smaller in the AMD3100-treated BMSCs group than in the normal BMSCs group. Our present findings suggest that the SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling pathway has a critical role in BMSCs migration to the injured cochlea in a rat model of noise-induced hearing loss.

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Spinal cord injury is a significant cause of motor dysfunctions. There is no definite cure for it, and most of the therapeutic modalities are only symptomatic treatment. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the effectiveness of stem cell therapy in the treatment of the spinal cord injuries in animal models was studied and evaluated. A systematic search through medical databases by using appropriate keywords was conducted. The relevant reports were reviewed in order to find out cases in which inclusion and exclusion criteria had been fulfilled. Finally, 89 articles have been considered, from which 28 had sufficient data for performing statistical analyses. The findings showed a significant improvement in motor functions after cell therapy. The outcome was strongly related to the number of transplanted cells, site of injury, chronicity of the injury, type of the damage, and the induction of immune-suppression. According to our data, improvements in functional recovery after stem cell therapy in the treatment of spinal cord injury in animal models was noticeable, but its outcome is strongly related to the site of injury, number of transplanted cells, and type of transplanted cells.