Neuroprotective effect of stroke pretreated MSCs against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

Abstract Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to enhance neurological recovery after stroke. In this study, a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model was designed to assess the neuroprotective effects of stroke pretreated MSCs on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Method The MSCs were isolated and cultured in medium with 10% FBS, normal control serum (NS), or stroke serum (SS). Then these MSCs were injected into each group rats (n=6) 1 day after MCAO and continue feeding for 28 days. A battery of behavioral tests, TTC staining, hematoxylin and eosin staining, ELISA, and TUNEL assay were used to assess neural injury. Moreover, in order to detected the enhancement of neuronal regeneration and angiogenesis, immunofluorescence and western blotting were performed to assess the expression of trophic factor and growth factor. Result After treatment, the behaviour was improvement significantly. And the infarct area, brain lesion, and apoptosis cells were significantly decreased in the SS-MSCs group than others. It also modulated the inflammation by attenuating inflammatory cytokines. In addition, the number of neurogenesis positive cells, the expression of trophic factors and growth factors were significantly higher in the SS-MSCs group than others. At the same time, FBS-MSCs and NS-MSCs showed differences in the expression of trophic factors and growth factors, but the results were not as well as SS-MSCs. Conclusion SS-MSCs administration after the reperfusion led to neuroprotection by improving pathological changes, behavioral improvement, neurogenesis, suppression of apoptosis and inflammatory as well as angiogenesis.