The effect of neural stem cell transplantation on the hindlimb motor function and caspase-3 expression of motor cortex in spinal cord transected rats / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effect of neural stem cell (NSC)transplantation on the hindlimb motor function and caspase-3 expression of motor cortex (MC) in spinal cord transected (SCT) rats. Methods S prague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into sham operated group, operation group( T9 transection), and subacute NSC transplantation group. The MC of each group( n= 8 )was harvested 7 days post operation (dpo), then western blot was employed to detect the level of caspase-3( β-actin was used as control ). The left 5 animals of each group were subjected to BBB score evaluation at 16th week,then the animals were sacrificed and the MC was harvested and performed immunostain by using caspase-3 rabbit antibody. Results Following NSC transplanta tion, BBB scores( ( 7.58 ± 0. 99 ) ) increased significantly than seen in the SCT animals( ( 5.16 ± 1.19) ). The expressional level of caspase-3 at 7day post operation was( (0.89 + 0.12)) in MC of SCT rats,while it decreased significantly to( (0.76 + 0.11 ) ) in NSC transplantation rats(P＜0.05). The immunoreactive stain of caspase-3 was seen in the cytoplasm of pyramidal neuron in the cortex. Conclusion NSC engraft can downregulate the expression of caspase-3, corresponding to a significant improvement in hindlimb motor function. These findings indicate that NSC transplantation probably regulate the expression of apoptosis genes in MC to promote neurological function recovery in rats subjected SCT.