ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:Endothelial progenitor cels are widely used in the treatment of various vascular diseases, and early exercise training contributes to restore motor function after spinal cord injury. However, the therapeutic effects of endothelial progenitor cel transplantation or early exercise training alone are unfavorable. OBJECTIVE:To observe the influence of transplantation of endothelial progenitor cels combined with early exercise training on blood vessel regeneration and hind limb function in rats after spinal cord injury. METHODS:Eighty adult Sprague-Dawley rats were enroled to establish spinal cord injury models using the modified Alen’s method, and then randomly divided into four groups. Rats were respectively given culture mediumvia the tail vein, injection of endothelial progenitor cels (3×106)via the tail vein, roler and treadmil trainings for 2 weeks, or injection of endothelial progenitor celsvia the tail vein folowed by 2 weeks of roler and treadmil trainings in the model, cel transplantation, exercise and combined groups. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:At 2 weeks after transplantation, the hindlimb motor function of rats in the combined group was better than that in the cel transplantation group and exercise group, and moreover, the percentage of CM-Dil positive cels, the number of horseradish peroxidase-positive nerve fibers, capilary density and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor were also significantly higher in the combined group than the cel transplantation group and exercise group. These findings indicate that early exercise training has a neuroprotective role in spinal cord injury; endothelial progenitor cel transplantation combined with early exercise training can promote regeneration of synapses and blood vessels and improve hindlimb motor function of rats, probably by increasing expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.