Effectiveness and pathologic changes of transplantation of human mesenchymal stem cells in SOD1-G93A mouse model of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM:To study intravenous transplantation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) on the life span and pathological change of SOD1-G93A amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mice. METHODS:hMSCs were cultured and expanded from heparinized bone marrow cells from healthy donors and the purity and features were identified with FCM. hMSCs (3×10~6) resuspended in 0.3 mL DMEM or 0.3 mL DMEM only were injected into the tail vein of genotyped SOD1-G93A ALS mice. The mice were evaluated for signs of motor deficit with 4-point scoring system according to Weydt and the onset and life span were assessed. The pathological change was observed with Nissl staining and number of motor neuron was counted. RESULTS:The onset symptoms in untreated SOD1-G93A ALS mice appeared at (156.6±3.6) d of age and the average life span was (188.3±3.5) d. hMSCs transplantation delayed the onset of ALS type symptoms about 14 d and prolonged the life span about 18 d compared to the untreated SOD1-G93A littermates. The loss of motor neurons in untreated mice was much faster and severer than that in hMSCs transplanted mice. At 16 th week and 20 th week,motor neurons of untreated mice were significantly fewer than those of transplanted mice. β-globin gene in brain was detected in transplanted ALS mice. CONCLUSION:hMSCs migrate to central nervous system after intravenous transplantation,prolong the life span and delay the onset and motor neuron loss in SOD1-G93A ALS mice.