Study of the Efficiency of Transplantation of Human Neural Stem Cells to Rats with Spinal Trauma: the Use of Functional Load Tests and BBB Test

Abstract

Human ensheating neural stem cells of the olfactory epithelium were transplanted to adult male rats immediately after contusion trauma of the spinal cord at T9 level rostrally and caudally to the injury. Voluntary movements (by a 21-point BBB scale), rota-rod performance, and walking along a narrowing beam were monitored weekly over 60 days. In rats receiving cell transplantation, the mean BBB score signi¿ cantly increased by 11% by the end of the experiment. The mean parameters of load tests also regularly surpassed the corresponding parameters in controls. The ef¿ ciency of transplantation (percent of animals with motor function recovery parameters surpassing the corresponding mean values in the control groups) was 62% by the state of voluntary motions, 37% by the rota-rod test, and 32% by the narrowing beam test. Morphometry revealed considerable shrinking of the zone of traumatic damage in the spinal cord and activation of posttraumatic remyelination in animals receiving transplantation of human neural stem cells.

New Experimental Model of Brain Tumors in Brains of Adult Immunocompetent Rats

“…This was in agreement with previously obtained results (Fricker et al, 1999;Aleksandrova et al, 2002;Englund et al, 2002). Later in the same laboratory the human neural stem cells were efficiently transplanted to rats with spinal trauma (Lebedev et al, 2010) and studied the influence of the neural stem cell transplantation on the restoration of CNS functions in rats with cortical stroke (Volkov et al, 2010). So, if to accept the data that the implanted astrocytes could survive some time as it is described above, the tumor will be already developed and will kill the animal itself or animal will be killed due to the terms of the experiment according to specific signs in behavior of the brain tumor bearing animal.…”

Activation of Expression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor at the Site of Implantation of Allogenic and Xenogenic Neural Stem (Progenitor) Cells in Rats with Ischemic Cortical Stroke

“…Rat fi broblasts Rat2, allogenic cells with minimum progenitor properties, served as cell control. Characteristics of rENT and NSChoe were reported previously [2,7]. The viability of cells before implantation was 90% (determined by trypan blue staining).…”