The influence of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells transplanted into the tail vein of diabetic rats on apoptosis of retinal neurons and the retinal expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein / 中华眼底病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the influence of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSC) transplanted into the tail vein of diabetic rats on apoptosis of retinal neurons and the retinal expression level of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).Methods Seventy clean male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the normal control group (group A),diabetes mellitus (DM) only group (group B),DM + balanced salt solution (BSS) group (group C),DM + hUCMSC group (group D),with 10 rats in each group.DM rats were induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin.Apoptosis of retinal cells was assayed by dUTP nick end labeling.Immunohistochemistry and Western blot was performed to detect the retinal expressions of GFAP in rats.Results Compared with group A,large numbers of apoptotic cells could be found in the retinal ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner nuclear layer (INL) of group B and group C,however the apoptotic cells in group D were significantly reduced than group B and C.The expression of GFAP was mainly located in the retinal GCL and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) in group A,throughout the inner plexiform layer (IPL) in group B and C,only distributed in RNFL and GCL in group D.It was obvious that the expression of GFAP in group B and C was higher than group A.Compared with group B and C,the expression of GFAP in group D was significantly reduced.The difference of GFAP expression among the 4 groups was significant (F=79.635,P＜0.05).Conclusion hUCMSC could inhibit the apoptosis of retinal cells and activation of glial cells in early DM rats.