Therapeutic role of bone marrow mononuclear cells in cerebral infarction through autologous transplantation

Abstract

Objective To investigate the therapeutic role of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) in cerebral infarction by detecting the infarct volume, integrity of blood-brain barrier (BBB) and functional recovery in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO).Methods Seventy-two adult male SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operated group, vehicle group,normal saline treatment group and BM-MNC treatment group.MCAO in rats of the later 3 groups was induced by occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery using an intra luminal filament technique.BM-MNCs,selected from their femur,were isolated with gradient centrifugation,and the proportion of CD45 + cells was detected by flow cytometry before infusion.BM-MNCs were re-injected by jugular vein infusion.Infarct volumes were determined with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining; the content of Evans blue and brain water content were detected to evaluate the damage of BBB; in addition,neurological deficits were also assessed by Zea-Longer tests. Results Flow cytometry revealed that the proportion of CD45 +cells in BM-MNCs was 91.2％.The infarct volumes,contents of Evans blue and brain water in rats of BM-MNC treatment group were significantly decreased as compared with those in rats of the normal saline treatment group and vehicle group (P＜0.05); however,no significant difference of those was noted between rats of the normal saline treatment group and vehicle group (P＞0.05).Except for the sham-operated group, all the other rats had neurological deficits of varied degrees; the neurological deficits in rats of the BM-MNC treatment group were obviously improved as compared with those in rats of the vehicle group and normal saline treatment group (P＜0.05). Conclusion The separation of BM-MNCs is simple; BM-MNCs can significantly reduce the extent of brain injury and promote recovery of neurological function in rats with cerebral infarction,which indicate that BM-MNCs may have high therapeutic value in cerebral infarction. Key words: Cerebral infarction; Bone marrow mononuclear cell; Cell transplantation