Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2015, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (45): 7304-7308.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2015.45.016

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Homing of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells to the injured kidney and their protective effects

Zhang Bing1, Li Wen-qing2   

  1. 1Department of Nephrology, Baoding No. 1 Hospital, Baoding 071000, Hebei Province, China; 2Baoding Local Blood Center, Baoding 071000, Hebei Province, China
  • Received:2015-09-28 Online:2015-11-05 Published:2015-11-05
  • About author:Zhang Bing, Master, Attending physician, Department of Nephrology, Baoding No. 1 Hospital, Baoding 071000, Hebei Province, China

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells have the potential to treat acute kidney injury. Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells have general characteristics of stem cells and many advantages, such as easy to isolate and culture, in vitro fast amplification, low immunogenicity and no ethical problems, which have garnered increasing attentions.
OBJECTIVE: To study the repairing effects of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells on acute kidney injury in rats.
METHODS: Thirty rats were randomized into three groups: a normal control group, a model group and a cell transplantation group. Rats in the model and cell transplantation were subjected to clamping the renal pedicles for 45 minutes, and then injected 1 mL of DAPI-labeled umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells or 1 mL of saline via the tail vein. In the normal control group, the kidney was only exposed with no treatment. At 7 days after treatment, the rats were killed to take left kidney tissues for pathological observation under light microscope and right kidney for observation of DAPI-positive cell counting. Automatic biochemical analyzer was used to detect serum creatinine and urea ammonia levels.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the model group, the levels of serum creatinine and urea ammonia were significantly lower in the cell transplantation group (P < 0.05), suggesting that human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells can improve the kidney function to a certain extent. Pathological findings 
showed that the pathological damage was improved more remarkably in the cell transplantation group than the model group, and the tubular necrosis index decreased significantly in the cell transplantation group. At 7 days after cell transplantation, blue fluorescent cells were scattered on renal tissue frozen sections. These results indicate that human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells can migrate to the injured tubular epithelial tissues, and promote the repair of the injured kidney. 
中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点:干细胞;骨髓干细胞;造血干细胞;脂肪干细胞;肿瘤干细胞;胚胎干细胞;脐带脐血干细胞;干细胞诱导;干细胞分化;组织工程

Key words: Umbilical Cord, Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation, Kidney Diseases, Tissue Engineering