Human Umbilical Cord-Derived Schwann-Like Cell Transplantation Combined with Neurotrophin-3 Administration in Dyskinesia of Rats with Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells are capable of differentiating into Schwann-like cells. In this study, we induced human umbilical-cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) in vitro into neurospheres constituted by neural stem-like cells, and further into cells bearing strong morphological, phenotypic and functional resemblances with Schwann-like cells. These HUMSC-derived Schwann-like cells, after grafting into the injured area of the rats' spinal cord injury (SCI), showed a partial therapeutic effect in terms of improving the motor function. Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) was reported to improve the local microenvironment of the grafted cells, and we, therefore, further tested the effect of Schwann-like cell grafting combined with NT-3 administration at the site of cell transplantation. The results showed that NT-3 administration significantly promoted the survival of the grafted cells in the host-injured area. Significant improvement in rats treated by Schwann-like cell grafting combined with NT-3 administration was demonstrated in the behavioral test as compared with that in animal models received the cell grafting only. These results suggest that transplantation of the Schwann-like cells combined with NT-3 administration may represent a new strategy of stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury.

Multiple injections of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells through the tail vein improve microcirculation and the microenvironment in a rat model of radiation myelopathy

“…Genetic modification of UC-MSCs with NT-3 further enhanced their therapeutic effectsafter clip injury to the spinal cord [35]. Injection of Schwann-like cells induced from UC-MSCs, combined with NT-3 administration, further promoted the survival of UC-MSCs and functional recovery [36]. A combination treatment of Taxol and UC-MSCs for spinal cord injury further reduced the extent of astrocyte activation, increased axonal preservation, decreased the number of caspase-3(+) and ED-1(+) cells, and enhanced functional recovery compared with UC-MSC treatment alone [37].…”

Anti-inflammatory effect of stem cells against spinal cord injury via regulating macrophage polarization

“…7 Stem cell transplantation is a promising candidate to treat SCI. [8][9][10][11][12] Recent work showed that stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), [13][14][15] neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/ PCs), 16,17 and embryonic stem cells (ESCs), [18][19][20] have immunoregulatory capacity and anti-inflammatory effects and could enhance functional improvement through inducing macrophages M1/M2 phenotype transformation post SCI. This review will discuss 1) the general feature of macrophages in response to SCI, 2) the phenotype and function of macrophages in SCI, and 3) the effects of stem cells on macrophage polarization and its role in stem cell-based therapies for SCI.…”

Induction of Schwann Cells from Rat Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells

“…The effectiveness of this protocol has been repeated and confirmed by other research groups (Hou 2006;Keilhoff 2006;Tohill 2004;Xu 2011b;Zhao 2005). Furthermore, our group (Matsuse 2010) and other research groups (Jiang 2008;Kingham 2007;Peng 2011;Xu 2008;2011a;Yan-Wu 2011) showed that other types of mesenchymal stem cells, human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells, and adipose-derived stem cells, have also been shown to differentiate into Schwann cells by our original method or with minor change. However, our original protocol stands as general standard for Schwann cell induction from mesenchymal stem cells.…”