Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Previous research has proved that olfactory ensheathing cells can promote neuronal survival and axonal regeneration.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation on the treatment of spinal cord injury of rats.

METHODS: A total of 40 healthy adult female SD rats were randomly divided into control and cell transplantation groups, with 20 rats for each group. Ten additional SD rats were used for separation and culture of olfactory ensheathing cells. Spinal cord injury was induced in both control and cell transplantation groups. 2-cm bilateral 8^th-10^th intercostal nerves were crossly implanted into spinal cord defect region, i.e., proximal white matter and distal gray matter, distal white matter and proximal gray matter. Olfactory ensheathing cells at density of 2×10⁶ were locally injected into cell transplantation group, while an equal amount saline was locally injected into control group. Somatosensory evoked potential and motion evoked potential were detected to observe neuro-electrophsiological recovery; BBB was used to evaluate hindlimb motor function; BDA anterograde tracer was used to observe motor conduction recovery.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Latency and amplitude of somatosensory evoked potential and motion evoked potential in the cell transplantation group were significantly greater than control group (P < 0.01). BBB scores of cell transplantation group were significantly greater than control group (P < 0.01). BDA-positive nerve fibers in the cell transplantation group were significantly more than control group (P < 0.01). Local injection of olfactory ensheathing cells can improve neuro-electrophysiological changes and promote hindlimb motor functional recovery following spinal cord injury.