Effects of human umbilical mesenchymal stem cell on Wistar rats models of stress urinary incontinence and its possible mechanism

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of human umbilical mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) on Wistar rat models of stress urinary incontinence and its possible mechanism. Methods hUCMSCs cells were separated and extracted from human umbilical cord of cesarean delivery of full-term pregnancy women. The models of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) of Wistar rats were established by imitating delivery damage and ovary removing surgery, and then randomly divided into three groups: model group, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) group, hUCMSCs group, and normal rats as normal group; and every group included ten rats. Maximal bladder capacity (MBC), leak point pressure (LPP), abdominal leak point pressure (ALPP), and sneezing experiment of rats including normal rats, model rats and model rats accepted TGF-β1 or hUCMSCs treatment were examined. When the treatment accomplished, the rats were killed and urethral sphincter were separated and examined by hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining and the proteins of troponin I (TnI), troponin C (TnC), troponin T (TnT), tropomyosin (Tm), actin (AT), myosin heavy chain (MHC) and myosin light chain (MLC) of urethral sphincter was detected with Western blot method. Results The cells of hUCMSCs were extracted and authenticated, SUI models of Wistar rats were successfully established and authenticated. Compared to model group and TGF-β1 group, the MBC, LPP and ALPP of hUCMSCs group dramatically improved (P<0.05), while the positive rate of sneezing experiment significantly dropped (P<0.05). HE staining showed urethral sphincter became attenuation, fracture, sparse and disorder, simultaneously the proteins of TnI, TnC, TnT, Tm, MHC and MLC of urethral sphincter reduced (P<0.05). While the damaged urethral sphincter basically restored the normal structure and the proteins of TnI, TnC, TnT, Tm, MHC and MLC of urethral sphincter up-regulated through hUCMSCs treatment (P<0.05). Conclusions The treatment of hUCMSCs translation could observably improve the clinic symptoms of SUI Wistar rat models, and its mechanism may be related to enhancement of the protein expression of TnI, TnC, TnT, Tm, MHC and MLC of urethral sphincter, and were involved in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of urethral sphincter. Key words: Cord blood stem cell transplantation; Urinary incontinence, stress/SU/PP; Urethra/PP