Transplantation of Neural Stem Cells Cultured in Alginate Scaffold for Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

STUDY DESIGN: This study investigated the effects of transplantation of alginate encapsulated neural stem cells (NSCs) on spinal cord injury in Sprague-Dawley male rats. The neurological functions were assessed for 6 weeks after transplantation along with a histological study and measurement of caspase-3 levels. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to discover whether NSCs cultured in alginate transplantation improve recovery from spinal cord injury. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Spinal cord injury is one of the leading causes of disability and it has no effective treatment. Spinal cord injury can also cause sensory impairment. With an impetus on using stem cells therapy in various central nervous system settings, there is an interest in using stem cells for addressing spinal cord injury. Neural stem cell is one type of stem cells that is able to differentiate to all three neural lineages and it shows promise in spinal injury treatment. Furthermore, a number of studies have shown that culturing NSCs in three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds like alginate could enhance neural differentiation. METHODS: The NSCs were isolated from 14-day-old rat embryos. The isolated NSCs were cultured in growth media containing basic fibroblast growth factor and endothelial growth factor. The cells were characterized by differentiating to three neural lineages and they were cultured in an alginate scaffold. After 7 days the cells were encapsulated and transplanted in a rat model of spinal cord injury. RESULTS: Our data showed that culturing in an alginate 3D scaffold and transplantation of the NSCs could improve neurological outcome in a rat model of spinal cord injury. The inflammation scores and lesion sizes and also the activity of caspase-3 (for apoptosis evaluation) were less in encapsulated neural stem cell transplantation cases. CONCLUSIONS: Transplantation of NSCs that were cultured in an alginate scaffold led to a better clinical and histological outcome for recovery from spinal cord injury in a rat model.

Combination Cell Therapy with Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Neural Stem Cells for Brain Stroke in Rats

OBJECTIVES: Brain stroke is the second most important events that lead to disability and morbidity these days. Although, stroke is important, there is no treatment for curing this problem. Nowadays, cell therapy has opened a new window for treating central nervous system disease. In some previous studies the Mesenchymal stem cells and neural stem cells. In this study, we have designed an experiment to assess the combination cell therapy (Mesenchymal and Neural stem cells) effects on brain stroke. METHOD AND MATERIALS: The Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from adult rat bone marrow and the neural stem cells were isolated from ganglion eminence of rat embryo 14 days. The Mesenchymal stem cells were injected 1 day after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and the neural stem cells transplanted 7 day after MCAO. After 28 days, the neurological outcomes and brain lesion volumes were evaluated. Also, the activity of Caspase 3 was assessed in different groups. RESULT: The group which received combination cell therapy had better neurological examination and less brain lesion. Also the combination cell therapy group had the least Caspase 3 activity among the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The combination cell therapy is more effective than Mesenchymal stem cell therapy and neural stem cell therapy separately in treating the brain stroke in rats.