Effects of Fresh Bone Marrow Mononuclear Stem Cells in Rat Model of Retinopathy of Prematurity

Abstract

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of intravitreal injection of bone marrow mononuclear stem cells (BMMNC) on neurological and vascular damages in a rat model of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Methods: Ten newborn Wistar rats were divided randomly into the control and the oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) group. Animals in the OIR group were incubated in an oxygen chamber to induce retinopathy. One eye of animals in the OIR group received BMMNC suspension (treated eyes), and the contralateral eye received the same volume of saline injection. Then, all animals underwent funduscopy, electroretinography, and histopathological assessments. Results: Compared to the saline injection group, eyes treated with BMMNC had less vascular tortuosity while veins and arteries had relatively same caliber, as revealed by fundus examination. Eyes in treatment group showed significantly elevated photopic and scotopic B waves amplitude. In histopathological assessments, nuclei count in inner retinal layer in the treatment group was significantly lower compared to untreated eyes. Also, BMMNC transplantation reduced apoptosis of neural retina cells. Conclusions: Our results indicated that intravitreal injection of BMMNC reduces neural and vascular damages and results in recovered retinal function in rat model of ROP. Ease of extraction without in vitro processing, besides the therapeutic effects of BMMNCs, make this source of stem cells as a new choice of therapy for ROP or other retinal ischemic diseases in further biomedical research.