ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can treat central nervous system diseases. BMSCs have the function of self-renewal and differentiation into a variety of neural cell types. BMSCs with self-renewal and multi-directional differentiation abilities can successfully differentiate into dopaminergic neurons after transplantation into an animal model. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of transplanted BMSCs on behavior and dopaminergic neurons in rats with manganese poisoning. METHODS: Rat models of manganese poisoning were constructed by intraperitoneal injection of MnCl2?4H2O into Sprague-Dawley rats. The model rats were then randomly divided into two groups, BMSCs and phosphate buffered solution (PBS) control group, and 5 μL of passage 3 human BMSCs suspension or equivalent PBS was transplanted into the right striatum of the manganese poisoning rats. One month after transplantation, the rats were subjected to behavioral assessment. The differentiation of BMSCs was observed by immunofluorescence. The contents of dopamine, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor in the right striatum of rats were detected by ELISA. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The behavioral score of the BMSCs treated group was significantly lower than that of the PBS control group after transplantation (P < 0.05). Double-labeled positive cells for human-specific nuclear antigen/tyrosine hydroxylase (hNUC/TH) and human-specific nuclear antigen/glial cell-derived acidic protein (hNUC/GFAP) were observed in the BMSCs treated group after transplantation. Meanwhile, hNUC/TH and hNUC/GFAP double-labeled positive cells were undetected in the PBS control group after transplantation. The expression levels of dopamine, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor in the BMSCs treated group were higher than those in the PBS control group. This suggests that BMSCs can improve the behavior of manganese poisoning rats and can differentiate into dopaminergic neurons and astrocytes.