Basic fibroblast growth factors promote proliferation of endogenous neural stem cells after spinal cord injury in mice / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:So far steroid pulse therapy andsurgical decompressionarethe main accepted therapiesfor spinal cord injury, but these methods make no effects on injured neurons. Nerve growth factors and endogenous neural stem cels play a role in theneuronalregeneration and remyelination, which provides a newidea for spinal cord injury treatment. OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect of the basic fibroblast growth factor on proliferation of endogenous neural stem cels after spinal cord injury and to analyze its relationship with the increased fluoro-gold labeled neurons. METHODS:Totaly 48 Kunming mice were randomly divided into four groups including normal, spinal cord injury, treatment and sham operation groups. Acute spinal cord injury models were establishedin the spinal cord injury and treatment groups, andthe normal group was subjected to operationthat did not damage the spinal cord. At 2hoursafter regaining consciousness, the treatment group was givendailyinjection of MTPBS containing 25 μg/kg basic fibroblast growth factors and 1% album. And at 7 days, laminectomy was carried out again at the L1segment in the former three groups and a smal piece of sterile gelfoam soaked with fluoro-gold was inserted into the incision. The sham operation group was given no processing. Afterwards, mouse motor behavior was assessed using Rotarod and Platform Hang tests; neurons in the corticospinal and rubrospinal tracts were labeled with fluoro-gold; the number of endogenous neural stem cels positive for nestin was detected by immunohistochemistry method. Besides, the correlation betweenthe number offluoro-gold labeled neurons andthe number ofendogenous neural stem cels was assessed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The basic fibroblast growth factor could significantly improve the mouse motor behavior after spinal cordinjury. And the number of endogenous neural stem cels was significantly increased after the basic fibroblast growth factor injection, which was related to the increased fluoro-gold labeled neurons.In conclusion, basic fibroblast growth factors play an important role in the proliferation of endogenous neural stem cels after spinal cord injury. Furthermore, endogenous neural stem cels improve locomotive behaviors by encouraging the neuronalproliferation.