Effect of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation on behavior and structural changes in myelin in experimental rat autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Jun-Mei Zhang,Yu-Ying Fan,Hua Wang,Feng-Hua Yang

doi:10.4314/tjpr.v17i11.16

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) transplantation on behavior and structural changes in myelin of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in rats.Methods: Wistar rats were randomly assigned to normal control, EAE, placebo injection treatment, and MSCs treatment. EAE, placebo injection treatment and MSCs treatment groups were further divided into six groups, i.e., 1-day, 3-day, 7-day, 14-day, 21-day, and 28-day post-onset. Changes in the diseasestatus of the rats and structural changes in myelin at different time points were assessed with silver staining.Results: Behavioral changes peaked between 13 to 17 days post-immunization (71.90 % incidence), while disease symptoms peaked between 3 and 5 days after onset, were sustained for about 7 days, and then eased gradually thereafter. The highest therapeutic scores and the entire course of the disease in EAE and placebo treatment groups were not significantly different (p > 0.05). However, in MSC treatment group, these parameters were significantly lower than in the above two groups (p < 0.05). In EAE and placebo treatment groups, myelin sheath lesions were obvious from day 3 to 7 but on day 14, the number of myelin sheath fragments decreased significantly. Recovery at different time points was also better than those in EAE and placebo treatment groups.Conclusion: MSC transplantation shortens the course of EAE, and also reduces its severity. Thus, it has some prospects for use in the management of EAE.Keywords: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, Autoimmune encephalomyelitis, Transplantation, Myelin

Highlights

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a common central nervous system (CNS) infectious disease in children, is characterized by high incidence, rapid progression, severe symptoms and high mortality
Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) are derived from various sources. They can be readily used for autologous transplantation because they are capable of selfreplication and multi-directional differentiation during long-term culture in vitro
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of BMMSC transplantation on clinical behavior and structural changes in myelin of EAE rats

Summary

Introduction

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a common central nervous system (CNS) infectious disease in children, is characterized by high incidence, rapid progression, severe symptoms and high mortality. Cell transplantation is a recently developed treatment. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) are derived from various sources. They can be readily used for autologous transplantation because they are capable of selfreplication and multi-directional differentiation during long-term culture in vitro. These cells are characterized by weak immunogenicity and ability to induce positive effect regardless of whether the transplantation is local or intravenous, thereby making them one of the most promising treatment strategies for repair of human CNS injury [1,2,3,4]

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