Single vs. Combined Therapeutic Approaches in Rats With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

The regenerative capability of the central nervous system is limited after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors that inhibit spinal cord regeneration, resulting in deficient functional recovery. It has been shown that strategies, such as pre-degenerated peripheral nerve (PPN) grafts or the use of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) or exogenous molecules, such as chondroitinase ABC (ChABC) promote axonal growth and remyelination, resulting in an improvement in locomotor function. These treatments have been primarily assessed in acute injury models. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the ability of several single and combined treatments in order to modify the course of chronic complete SCI in rats. A complete cord transection was performed at the T9 level. One month later, animals were divided into five groups: original injury only (control group), and original injury plus spinal cord re-transection to create a gap to accommodate BMSCs, PPN, PPN + BMSCs, and PPN + BMSCs + ChABC. In comparison with control and single-treatment groups (PPN and BMSCs), combined treatment groups (PPN + BMSCs and PPN + BMSCs + ChABC) showed significative axonal regrowth, as revealed by an increase in GAP-43 and MAP-1B expression in axonal fibers, which correlated with an improvement in locomotor function. In conclusion, the combined therapies tested here improve locomotor function by enhancing axonal regeneration in rats with chronic SCI. Further studies are warranted to refine this promising line of research for clinical purposes.

Strategies to Repair Spinal Cord Injuries: Single Vs. Combined Treatments

“…It was also observed that animals, after 2 months of PPN and MSC transplants in a full-section model, had a greater number of growing axons by detecting GAP43 as well as an improvement in remyelination by detection of PBM and by electron microscopy, unlike animals treated with simple transplantation [88]. When making a triple combination of PPN with MSCs and ChABC, an increase in axonal regeneration was observed after 3 months, improving locomotor function [89].…”

Medical research at the Mexican Institute of Social Security: Seven decades of work, achievements, and challenges

“…On the other hand, perhaps the best known (and also the most controversial) contribution of IMSS neuroscientists is the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease with adrenal medulla autologous transplantation 60,61 . Experimental and clinical studies on traumatic spinal cord injury pathophysiology and surgical and pharmacological treatment are carried out at this same Unit [62][63][64] .…”

Role of Aldynoglia Cells in Neuroinflammatory and Neuroimmune Responses after Spinal Cord Injury

“…However, some regeneration potential is present after SCI; indicating that a permeable and replacement microenvironment occurs at the site of injury. It can activate proteins such as growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43) or microtubule-associated protein (MAP)1B that initiate axonal growth, but this is insufficient to generate new connections, due to the physical barrier at the injury site [55].…”