Transplantation of endothelial progenitor cells in the treatment of cerebral ischemia in rats / 实用放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the role of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)in improving functional recovery and promoting neurogenesis in damaged area of ischemic rat brain by MRI,neurological severity score (NSS),and pathological examinations.Meth-ods EPCs wereseparated,cultured,and identified,ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide(USPIO)particles was used to label EPCs in vitro.Transient middle cerebral arterial occlusion(tMCAO)was successfully performed in 30 adult SD rats.Magnetically labeled cells(the experimental group)and normal saline (the control group)were injected intravenously into the tMCAO rats through the tail vein respectively,then MR imaging and NSS was performed 0 day,2 days,4 days,6 days and 8 days later.At last the paraffin-embedded rat brain tissues were obtained and examed by Prussian blue staining and Measurement of microvessel density.Re-sults EPCs wereseparated,cultured,and identified successfully.MR imaging showed significant low signal intensity at the ischemic area on T2 WI sequence.Prussian blue staining images were corresponding to the EPCs staining in vitro.The NSS and microvessel density in experimental group were significantly higher than in control group.Conclusion EPCs can migrate to the damage zone, improve functional recovery and promote neurogenesis in damaged area of ischemic rat brain,and may be a new source of multipoten-tial stem cells for stroke treatment.