Open AccessBiodegradable chitin conduit tubulation combined with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for treatment of spinal cord injury by reducing glial scar and cavity formation
Author(s) -
Feng Xue,
Erjun Wu,
Peixun Zhang,
A Li-ya,
Yuhui Kou,
Xiaofeng Yin,
Ning Han
Publication year - 2015
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 - 10.4103/1673-5374.150715
Subject(s) - mesenchymal stem cell , spinal cord injury , medicine , transplantation , pathology , stem cell , bone marrow , stem cell transplantation for articular cartilage repair , spinal cord , adult stem cell , surgery , cellular differentiation , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , psychiatry , gene
We examined the restorative effect of modified biodegradable chitin conduits in combination with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation after right spinal cord hemisection injury. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that biological conduit sleeve bridging reduced glial scar formation and spinal muscular atrophy after spinal cord hemisection. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells survived and proliferated after transplantation in vivo, and differentiated into cells double-positive for S100 (Schwann cell marker) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (glial cell marker) at 8 weeks. Retrograde tracing showed that more nerve fibers had grown through the injured spinal cord at 14 weeks after combination therapy than either treatment alone. Our findings indicate that a biological conduit combined with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation effectively prevented scar formation and provided a favorable local microenvironment for the proliferation, migration and differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in the spinal cord, thus promoting restoration following spinal cord hemisection injury.