Abstract
Recently, we reported that human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AMMs) possess great angiogenic potential. In this study, we determined whether local injection of AMMs ameliorates peripheral neuropathy. AMMs were transplanted into injured sciatic nerves. AMM injection promoted significant recovery of motor nerve conduction velocity and voltage amplitude compared to human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. AMM implantation also augmented blood perfusion and increased intraneural vascularity. Whole-mount fluorescent imaging analysis demonstrated that AMMs exhibited higher engraftment and endothelial incorporation abilities in the sciatic nerve. In addition, the higher expression of pro-angiogenic factors was detected in AMMs injected into the peripheral nerve. Therefore, these data provide novel therapeutic and mechanistic insights into stem cell biology, and AMM transplantation may represent an alternative therapeutic option for treating peripheral neuropathy.
Highlights
Peripheral nerve injury is a devastating complication that can lead to complete functional loss or permanent impairment
On day 28, the mice treated with amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AMMs) exhibited significantly improved recovery compared to the mice treated with the adipose tissue-derived MSCs (ADMs) and the PBS control groups (1.02 Æ 0.14 versus 0.72 Æ 0.17, P = 0.021 and 0.37 Æ 0.14, P = 0.003, respectively; Fig. 1A)
To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to demonstrate that AMMs display neurovascular tropism and that the local injection of AMMs improves neuropathy
Summary
Peripheral nerve injury is a devastating complication that can lead to complete functional loss or permanent impairment. Despite significant advances in the repair of peripheral nerves, the functional recovery of these nerves never returns to the pre-injury state. There have been many experimental trials to repair injured nerves [1]. Alternative materials embedded with regenerative cells were evaluated [2, 3]. A novel therapeutic method using cells has been proposed for regenerating damaged nerves [4]. Schwann cells or stem cells derived from various tissues were transplanted and contributed to
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