間葉系細胞による喉頭筋の機能的再生

Abstract

Bone marrow derived stromal cells (BSCs) which contain mesenchymal stem cells have great potential as therapeutic agents.Dezawa et al. reported a method for inducing skeletal muscle lineage cells from human and rat general adherent BSCs with 89% efficiency.Induced muscle progenitor cells (IMCs) were shown to differentiate into muscle fibers upon transplantation into degenerated muscles of rats and mdx-nude mice.However, the ability of regenerated muscle to restore skeletal muscle function in a large animal model such as canine has yet to be determined. In this study, we performed BSC⁄IMC transplantation into injured canine posterior cricoarytenoid muscles.We investigated the ability of BSC⁄IMC transplantation to promote functional regeneration of posterior cricoarytenoid muscles by fiberscopic analysis of vocal fold movement.As a control, a gelatin sponge scaffold without additional cells was transplanted into the injured area. Results indicated that auto-BSC⁄IMC transplantation effectively restored vocal fold movement, whereas scaffold alone or allo-BSC⁄IMC transplantation did not.Histological examination revealed that, in cases of good recovery, muscle regeneration occurred in the area of cell transplantation, while scar formation without muscle regeneration was observed under control conditions.