BACKGROUND: At present, most researchers focus on intravenous transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into diabetic animal models. There are few studies that describe transplantation of BMSCs into the pancreas of diabetic animal models via arterial intervention.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution and differentiation of autologous BMSCs transplanted into the pancreas of a dog model of diabetes via the arterial intervention as well as the therapeutic effects and safety.
METHODS: 30 dogs were randomly divided into BMSCs group (treatment group, n=13), diabetic model control group (model control group, n=10) and normal control group (n=7). Dogs in treatment group and model control group were intravenously injected with alloxan to establish diabetes models. After model establishment, treatment group received insulin therapy and autologous transplantation of BMSCs via arterial intervention. Model control group only received insulin therapy, and normal control group did not receive any treatment.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the model control group, insulin dosage significantly decreased and serum C-peptide level significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the treatment group (P < 0.05) at 12 weeks after transplantation. At 4 and   12 weeks after transplantation, the frozen sections of treatment group showed that the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney had clear structure, without necrosis and fibrosis. Compared with model control group and normal control group, the morphological structure of each organ had no obvious abnormal change after transplantation in the treatment group. At 4 weeks after transplantation, BMSCs mainly distributed in the pancreas and kidney, and CM-DiI and insulin double-positive cells were in the pancreas as detected by immunofluorescence staining. The results suggest that the method of transplantation of autologous BMSCs via arterial intervention for treatment of diabetic dogs is safe and effective.