The effects of the conditioned medium of fetal neural cell culture on the apoptosis in the rat brain after traumatic brain injury

Abstract

A promising treatment method of the traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be stem cell therapy. However, the question of the nature and mechanisms of action of humoral factors produced by stem cells on apoptotic and reparative processes in the brain after trauma remains open. The purpose of the study was to research the effect of conditioned media of fetal neural cell cultures on the number of apoptotic cells in the cortex and subcortical structures of the rat brain after TBI. Materials and methods. TBI was modelled by dropping a metal cylinder on rat's head. Rat fetuses (E17-18) brain was used to obtain cultures of neural stem/progenitor cells. Conditioned media from cell cultures with high adhesive properties (HA-CM) and low adhesive properties (LA-CM) were used to treat the experimental TBI in rats. The presence of p53-positive cells in the cortex and subcortical structures was investigated by immunohistochemistry. Results. Immunohistochemical analysis of brain sections showed that on the 5th day after TBI in rats there was an increase in the number of p53-positive cells in both the cortex and subcortical structures of the brain. Injection of HA-CM and LA-CM to animals on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th days after TBI was found to reduce the number of p53-positive cells in the cortex, hippocampus and thalamus by approximately half compared to the TBI group. A significant difference in the inhibitory effect of two different conditioned media (HA-CM and LA-CM) on apoptosis in the brain of rats after TBI was not detected. Conclusions. The administration of conditioned media of rat fetal neural cell cultures caused a significant decrease in the number of p53-positive cells in both the cortex and subcortical structures on the 5th day after the brain injury.