Effects of co-grafts of bone marrow stromal cells and nerve growth factor suspension on repair of spinal cord injury / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate effects of co-grafts of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) combined with nerve growth factor (NGF) suspension on repair of spinal cord injury (SCI) in adult rats so as to determine whether the co-grafts are more effective than a single protocol.Methods Spinal cords of adult rats (n=32) were injured by the modified Allen's method.One week after injury,the injured cords were injected with Dubecco-modified Eagles Medium,BMSCs,NGF,and BMSCs plus NGF respectively.One month and two months after injury,rats were respectively sacrificed-and their injured cord tissues were sectioned to identify the transplanted cells under fluorescent microscopy.We observed axonal regeneration and differentiation of BMSCs through immunocytochemical staining conducted with neurofilament (NF) and Neuron-Specific Nuclear Protein (NeuN) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).We measured the cavity volume by staining with hematoxylin-eosin (HE).At the same time,rats were subjected to behavioral tests using the open-field BBB (blood brain battier) scoring system.Results One month and two months after transplantation,immunocytochemical staining showed that transplanted cells partially expressed NeuN and GFAP.At the same time,significant reduction in lesion area (P＜0.05) and improvement in BBB lo- comotor rating scale (P＜0.05) were observed in the cases that received implantation,as compared with those that received vehicle injection.More importantly,further reduction in lesion area and improvement in function were ob- served in the combined treatment group.Conclusions BMSCs can differentiate into neurons and astroeytes. BMSCs and NGF can reduce lesion size,promote axonal regeneration and improve functional recovery,and may have a synergistic effect.