BACKGROUND: To date, the clinical treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) mainly depends on drug, and as for cell transplantation experiment, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transplantation is the common method. The reports about whether umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (UCBMSCs) transplantation can improve the rotational behavior are rare.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of human UCBMSCs transplantation on rotational behavior of PD rats.
METHODS: The PD rat models were divided into the experimental group (n=20) and the control group (n=20). The fourth generation of MSCs were marked by Hoechst33258 and then transplanted into rat striatum in experimental group, and the rats in control group were given PBS. Apomorphine was injected intraperitoneally to examine the rotational behavior of the rats in two groups every week. Immunofluorescence double labeling method was used to identify the survival and migration of MSCs and the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neuron specific enolase (NSE), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and synaptophysin at the 3rd, 6th and 9th weeks.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The rotational behavior of PD rats in experimetal group was improved obviously compared with control group (P < 0.05) after UCBMSCs transplantation. Part of MSCs could survive in brain tissue, and migrated to the striatum, callose and cortex with time prolonged and expressed GFAP, NSE and TH, but not expressed synaptophysin. UCBMSCs could obviously improve the rotational behavior of PD rats and were expected to be the seed cells to cure PD.