Transplanting Neural Progenitor Cells into a Chronic Dorsal Column Lesion Model

Biomedicines

Ying Jin¹  Itzhak Fischer¹  Theresa M. Connors¹  Kazuo Hayakawa¹  Julien Bouyer¹  Takanobu Otsuka² 

[1] Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA;Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8601, Japan;

关键词: neuronal progenitor cells;    chronic spinal cord injury;    cell transplantation;    sensory system;    axon regeneration;   

DOI  :  10.3390/biomedicines10020350

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Cell transplantation therapy is a promising strategy for spinal cord injury (SCI) repair. Despite advancements in the development of therapeutic strategies in acute and subacute SCI, much less is known about effective strategies for chronic SCI. In previous studies we demonstrated that transplants of neural progenitor cells (NPC) created a permissive environment for axon regeneration and formed a neuronal relay across the injury following an acute dorsal column injury. Here we explored the efficacy of such a strategy in a chronic injury. We tested two preparations of NPCs derived from rat spinal cord at embryonic day 13.5: one prepared using stocks of cultured cells and the other of dissociated cells transplanted without culturing. Transplantation was delayed for 4-, 6- and 12-weeks post injury for a chronic injury model. We found that the dissociated NPC transplants survived and proliferated for at least 5 weeks post transplantation, in contrast to the poor survival of transplants prepared from cultured NPC stocks. The dissociated NPC transplants differentiated into neurons expressing excitatory markers, promoted axon regeneration into the injury/transplant site and extended axons from graft-derived neurons into the host. These results support the potential of NPC transplants to form neuronal relays across a chronic SCI, but they also underscore the challenges of achieving efficient cell survival in the environment of a chronic injury.

【 授权许可】

Unknown