Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for radiation-induced vascular injury in small intestine of rat / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess the therapeutic effect of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells on radiation-induced vascular injury in the small intestine of rat. Methods A total of 34 male Sprague-Dawley rats were enrolled in this study. To establish a model of radiation-induced intestinal injury, each rat was irradiated with 15 Gy in whole abdomen. 17 rats were randomly selected and infused intraperitoneally with passage 6 ( P6 ) Ad-MSCs, and the other 17 rats that received PBS were set as control. 10 days post-irradiation, the number of CD31+ endothelial cells in the small intestine villus was measured by flow-cytometry, the expressions of CD31, CD105 and isolectin-B4 in the na?ve endothelial cells with detected by IHC-staining, and the vascular integrity was evaluated by measuring VE-Cadherin. The origination of na?ve endothelial cells within injured intestine was also analyzed. In addition, total mRNA were extracted from irradiated small intestine to assay the expressions of VEGF, bFGF, Flk-1 and SDF-1 using quantitative Real-time PCR. Results Compared to the control, the amount of CD31-postive endothelial cells within irradiated intestine was significantly increased after Ad-MSCs infusion ( t=12?15, P<0?05). The microvascular density in the injured sites was also significantly increased by the infusion of Ad-MSCs (20 d:t=10?33, P<0. 05;30 d:t=32?85, P<0?05). Moreover, the expressions of VEGF, bFGF, Flk-1 and SDF-1 were significantly up-regulated after delivery of Ad-MSCs ( VEGF:t =10?34, bFGF:t=11?25,Flk-1:t=6?73, SDF-1:t=6?73, all P<0?05), which was beneficial in maintaining the integrity of intra-villus blood-vessels as well as promoting neovascularization in the injured sites. Conclusion Ad-MSCs had potentials in healing radiation-induced vascular injury in rat small intestine.