Intrahippocampal transplantation of dental pulp stem cells improved memory function and reduced neuroinflammation-induced cell death in the rat’s model of seizure

Abstract

Background Epilepsy is a prevalent neurological disorder that significantly reduces the patient's quality of life. The present study aims to evaluate whether dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) transplant effectively decreases inflammation and cell death in the brain cells to reduce seizure damage. Methods A seizure was induced in rats using intraperitoneal injections of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ). In the PTZ + DPSC group, bilateral hippocampal transplantation of DPSCs in PTZ-lesioned rat models was conducted. After one-month, post-graft analysis was performed, and some behavioral factors, such as working memory and long-term memory, were measured using a T-maze test and passive avoidance test, respectively. We investigated the immunohistopathology and distribution of astrocyte cells through light microscopy and Sholl analysis, respectively. Also, the Voronoi tessellation method was employed to estimate the spatial distribution of the cells in the hippocampus. Results For improving the behavioral aspects of rats with induced seizures, a reduction in astrogliosis, astrocytes process length, the number of branches, and intersections distal to the soma was observed in their hippocampus compared to the control group. More analysis indicated that the grafted DPSCs decreased the caspase-3 expression in the hippocampus of rats with induced seizures. Moreover, the DPSCs transplant protected hippocampal pyramidal neurons against PTZ toxicity and improved the spatial distribution of the hippocampal neurons. Conclusions Our findings suggested that DPSCs transplant can be a potent modifier of astrocytes' reactivation and inflammatory responses.