Open AccessTransplantation of placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cell-induced neural stem cells to treat spinal cord injury
Author(s) -
Zhi Li,
Wei Zhao,
Wei Liu,
Zhou Ye,
Jingqiao Jia,
Lifeng Yang
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
neural regeneration research/neural regeneration research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.93
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1876-7958
pISSN - 1673-5374
DOI - 10.4103/1673-5374.147953
Subject(s) - mesenchymal stem cell , spinal cord injury , spinal cord , stem cell , medicine , neural stem cell , stem cell transplantation for articular cartilage repair , adult stem cell , amniotic stem cells , transplantation , cord , clinical uses of mesenchymal stem cells , pathology , neuroscience , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , cellular differentiation , surgery , biochemistry , gene
Because of their strong proliferative capacity and multi-potency, placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells have gained interest as a cell source in the field of nerve damage repair. In the present study, human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells were induced to differentiate into neural stem cells, which were then transplanted into the spinal cord after local spinal cord injury in rats. The motor functional recovery and pathological changes in the injured spinal cord were observed for 3 successive weeks. The results showed that human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into neuron-like cells and that induced neural stem cells contribute to the restoration of injured spinal cord without causing transplant rejection. Thus, these cells promote the recovery of motor and sensory functions in a rat model of spinal cord injury. Therefore, human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells may be useful as seed cells during the repair of spinal cord injury.