ABSTRACT
Neuropathic pain, a debilitating condition, remains a significant challenge due to the lack of effective therapeutic solutions. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-derived conditioned medium in alleviating neuropathic pain induced by sciatic nerve compression injury in adult male rats. Forty Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four groups: control, nerve injury, nerve injury with intra-neural injection of conditioned medium, and nerve injury with intra-neural injection of culture medium. Following sciatic nerve compression, the respective groups received either 10 µl of conditioned medium from amniotic fluid-derived stem cells or an equal volume of control culture medium. Behavioral tests for cold allodynia, mechanical allodynia, and thermal hyperalgesia were conducted, and the spinal cord was analyzed using Western Blot and oxidative stress assays. The behavioral experiments showed a decrease in mechanical hyperalgesia and cold allodynia in the group receiving conditioned medium compared to the injury group and the control medium group. Western blot data revealed a decrease in the expression of the CCL2 protein and an increase in GAD65. Oxidative stress tests also showed increased levels of SOD and glutathione in conditioned media-treated animals compared to animals with nerve injury. The findings suggest that conditioned medium derived from amniotic fluid-derived stem cells can effectively reduce neuropathic pain, potentially through the provision of supportive factors that mitigate oxidative stress and inflammation in the spinal cord.
