ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) can repair the injury of nerve cells caused by ischemia and hypoxia, but which state of cells has a better therapeutic efficacy, primary isolation or induced differentiation is not yet known. OBJECTIVE: To compare the therapeutic effects of hUC-MSCs primary cultured and differentiated in a rat model of cerebral infarction.METHODS: After full-term delivery, fetal umbilical cord blood samples were obtained using quadruple bags by means of density gradient centrifugation. hUC-MSCS were induced in the medium containing basic fibroblast growth factor. Sixty rats were equivalently randomized into four groups: sham, model, primary culture and induced differentiation groups. Animal models of cerebral infarction were made in the rats in the latter three groups. Model rats in the primary culture and induced differentiation groups were subjected to tail vein transplantation of hUC-MSCs that were primary cultured or induced to differentiate in vitro at 7 days after modeling. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A marked improvement in balance, walking, spatial orientation, and learning and memory abilities was found in the rats after transplantation of hUC-MSCs that were primary cultured or induced to differentiate. Moreover, compared with the primary culture group, a significant improvement was found in the induced differentiation group, including improved pathological injury of the brain, higher expression of CD34 and Ki-67, lower expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein, lower expression of interleukin 1β and tumor necrosis factor β. Compared with the primary culture group, similar infarction size and expression of interleukin-6 were also found in the induced differentiation group. These findings indicate that hUC-MSCs with induced differentiation exhibit better therapeutic outcomes in the recovery of neurological function of cerebral infarction rats.