Spinal Cord Injury: Animal Models, Imaging Tools and the Treatment Strategies.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leads to irreversible neuro-degenerative changes with life-long consequences. While there is still no effective therapy available, the results of past research have led to improved quality of life for patients suffering from partial or permanent paralysis. In this review we focus on the need, importance and the scientific value of experimental animal models simulating SCI in humans. Furthermore, we highlight modern imaging tools determining the location and extent of spinal cord damage and their contribution to early diagnosis and selection of appropriate treatment. Finally, we focus on available cellular and acellular therapies and novel combinatory approaches with exosomes and active biomaterials. Here we discuss the efficacy and limitations of adult mesenchymal stem cells which can be derived from bone marrow, adipose tissue or umbilical cord blood and its Wharton's jelly. Special attention is paid to stem cell-derived exosomes and smart biomaterials due to their special properties as a delivery system for proteins, bioactive molecules or even genetic material.

Canine Bone Marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Genomics, Proteomics and Functional Analyses of Paracrine Factors.

Adult stem cells have become prominent candidates for treating various diseases in veterinary practice. The main goal of our study was therefore to provide a comprehensive study of canine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC) and conditioned media, isolated from healthy adult dogs of different breeds. Under well-defined standardized isolation protocols, the multipotent differentiation and specific surface markers of BMMSC were supplemented with their gene expression, proteomic profile, and their biological function. The presented data confirm that canine BMMSC express important genes for differentiation toward osteo-, chondro-, and tendo-genic directions, but also genes associated with angiogenic, neurotrophic, and immunomodulatory properties. Furthermore, using proteome profiling, we identify for the first time the dynamic release of various bioactive molecules, such as transcription and translation factors and osteogenic, growth, angiogenic, and neurotrophic factors from canine BMMSC conditioned medium. Importantly, the relevant genes were linked to their proteins as detected in the conditioned medium and further associated with angiogenic activity in chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. In this way, we show that the canine BMMSC release a variety of bioactive molecules, revealing a strong paracrine component that may possess therapeutic potential in various pathologies. However, extensive experimental or preclinical trials testing canine sources need to be performed in order to better understand their paracrine action, which may lead to novel therapeutic strategies in veterinary medicine.