Transplantation of mononuclear cells from human umbilical cord blood promotes functional recovery after traumatic spinal cord injury in Wistar rats

Abstract

Cell transplantation is a promising experimental treatment for spinal cord injury. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of mononuclear cells from human umbilical cord blood in promoting functional recovery when transplanted after a contusion spinal cord injury. Female Wistar rats (12 weeks old) were submitted to spinal injury with a MASCIS impactor and divided into 4 groups: control, surgical control, spinal cord injury, and one cell-treated lesion group. Mononuclear cells from umbilical cord blood of human male neonates were transplanted in two experiments: a) 1 h after surgery, into the injury site at a concentration of 5 x 106 cells diluted in 10 µL 0.9% NaCl (N = 8-10 per group); b) into the cisterna magna, 9 days after lesion at a concentration of 5 x 106 cells diluted in 150 µL 0.9% NaCl (N = 12-14 per group). The transplanted animals were immunosuppressed with cyclosporin-A (10 mg/kg per day). The BBB scale was used to evaluate motor behavior and the injury site was analyzed with immunofluorescent markers to label human transplanted cells, oligodendrocytes, neurons, and astrocytes. Spinal cord injury rats had 25% loss of cord tissue and cell treatment did not affect lesion extension. Transplanted cells survived in the injured area for 6 weeks after the procedure and both transplanted groups showed better motor recovery than the untreated ones (P < 0.05). The transplantation of mononuclear cells from human umbilical cord blood promoted functional recovery with no evidence of cell differentiation.

Assessment of Glial Scar, Tissue Sparing, Behavioral Recovery and Axonal Regeneration following Acute Transplantation of Genetically Modified Human Umbilical Cord Blood Cells in a Rat Model of Spinal Cord Contusion

“…In this study, we chose human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (UCB-MCs), which are easy to produce [ 6 , 7 ] and have been demonstrated to be safe, have low immunogenicity, as well as having the potential for increasing neuroregeneration [ 8 , 9 ]. Previously, we have shown that transplantation of UCB-MCs, transduced with a recombinant adenoviral vector encoding glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), into the injured spinal cord of rats contributed to the restoration of motor function and improved tissue sparing [ 10 ].…”

Assessment of Neuroprotective Properties ofMelissa officinalisin Combination With Human Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells After Spinal Cord Injury

“…The survival time of transplanted cells in the injured area was 6 weeks after treatment. The transplanted group indicated better functional recovery than the untreated ones (Rodrigues et al., 2012). There is sufficient evidence which prove that stem cell therapy could be effective in spinal cord injuries but a strategy to potentiate this stem cell transplantation results is required (Niapour et al., 2012; Chhabra and Sarda, 2015).…”

Mesenchymal cells of umbilical cord and umbilical cord blood as a source of human oligodendrocyte progenitors

“…They have been shown to confer trophic support and exert an immunomodulatory effect in a range of neural injuries and diseases like stroke, traumatic spinal cord injury or Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease [Arien-Zakay et al, 2010;Greggio et al, 2014;Rodrigues et al, 2012;Vendrame et al, 2005;Veeravalli et al, 2011;Wishnew et al, 2014]. Actually, the mesenchymal cells of UCB (USB-MSCs) are thought to reduce inflammation, secrete neurotrophic factors, enhance angiogenesis, promote neurogenesis and replace damaged cells [Rowe et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2014;Zhu et al, 2014].…”