Expression of growth factors in rats with focal cerebral ischemia after transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells and endothelial progenitor cells

Abstract

Objective To observe the expression of growth factors (vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF],stromal cell-derived factor-1 [SDF-1 ],basic fibroblast growth factor [bFGF],insulin-like growth factor [IGF-1],transforming growth factor-β [TGF-β],platelet-derived growth factor [PDGF],brain derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF],glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor [GDNF] and nerve growth factor [NGF]) in rat ischemic brain tissues after intravenous implantation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) and/or endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Methods Healthy adult Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:vehicle group,BMSCs transplantation group,EPCs transplantation group and BMSCs combined with EPCs transplantation group (n=20). The rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO),and 24 h after that,they were intravenously transplanted with either 3×106 BMSCs,EPCs,BMSCs/EPCs or 1 mL physiological saline.Seven d after transplantation,real time-PCR and Western blotting were employed to detect the expressions of VEGF,SDF-1,bFGF,IGF-1,TGF-β,PDGF-BB,BDNF,GDNF and NGF. Results The mRNA expressions of bFGF,VEGF and BNDF in the BMSCs/EPCs transplantation group were significantly higher as compared with those in the other groups (P＜0.05).BMSCs transplantation group enjoyed the highest mRNA levels of NGF,GDNF and TGF-β among all the groups, significantly higher as compared with those in the other groups (P＜0.05),followed by BMSCs/EPCs transplantation group.EPCs transplantation group enjoyed the highest mRNA levels of PDGF,IGF-1 and SDF-1,significantly higher as compared with those in the other groups (P＜ 0.05), followed by BMSCs/EPCs transplantation group. Conclusion BMSCs combined with EPCs implantation can promote the functional rehabilitation in rats after focal cerebral ischemia, which provides new way for improving the transplantation success rate. Key words: Cerebral ischemia; Bone marrow stromal cell; Endothelial progenitor cell; Cell transplantation; Cell factor