The Effect of Donor-Dependent Administration of Human Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells following Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Stroke is an ischemic disease caused by clotted vessel-induced cell damage. It is characterized by high morbidity and mortality and is typically treated with a tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). However, this therapy is limited by temporal constraints. Recently, several studies have focused on cell therapy as an alternative treatment. Most researches have used fixed donor cell administration, and hence, the effect of donor-dependent cell administration is unknown. In this study, we administered 3 types of donor-derived human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) in the ischemic boundary zone of the ischemic stroke rat model. We then performed functional and pathological characterization using rotarod, the limb placement test, and immunofluorescent staining. We observed a significant decrease in neuron number, and notable stroke-like motor dysfunction, as assessed by the rotarod test (~40% decrease in time) and the limb placement test (4.5 point increase) in control rats with ischemic stroke. The neurobehavioral performance of the rats with ischemic stroke that were treated with hUCB-MSCs was significantly better than that of rats in the vehicle-injected control group. Regardless of which donor cells were used, hUCB-MSC transplantation resulted in an accumulation of neuronal progenitor cells, and angiogenic and tissue repair factors in the ischemic boundary zone. The neurogenic and angiogenic profiles of the 3 types of hUCB-MSCs were very similar. Our results suggest that intraparenchymal administration of hUCB-MSCs results in significant therapeutic effects in the ischemic brain regardless of the type of donor.

The Effect of Human Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a Collagenase-Induced Intracerebral Hemorrhage Rat Model

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is one of the devastating types of stroke. Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) have potential benefits in recovery from brain damage following ICH. This study aimed to identify the beneficial effects of hUCB-MSCs and investigate whether they have anti-inflammatory effects on the ICH brain via neurotrophic factors or cytokines. hUCB-MSCs were transplanted into a collagenase-induced ICH rat model. At 2, 9, 16, and 30 days after ICH, rotarod and limb placement tests were performed to measure behavioral outcomes. ICH rats were sacrificed to evaluate the volume of lesion using H&E staining. Immunostaining was performed to investigate neurogenesis, angiogenesis, and anti-apoptosis at 4 weeks after transplantation. Inflammatory factors (TNF-alpha, COX-2, microglia, and neutrophils) were analyzed by immunofluorescence staining, RT-PCR, and Western blot at 3 days after transplantation. hUCB-MSCs were associated with neurological benefits and reduction in lesion volume. The hUCB-MSCs-treated group tended to reveal high levels of neurogenesis, angiogenesis, and anti-apoptosis (significant for angiogenesis). The expression levels of inflammatory factors tended to be reduced in the hUCB-MSCs-treated group compared with the controls. Our study suggests that hUCB-MSCs may improve neurological outcomes and modulate inflammation-associated immune cells and cytokines in ICH-induced inflammatory responses.