Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Simple stem cell transplantation for the repair of spinal cord injury (SCI) is not ideal, mainly because edema, ischemia, hypoxia of nerve tissue in damage area after SCI injury caused secondary injury.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of bone mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) transplantation and Piracetam on repair of rat’s spinal cord injury (SCI).
METHODS: SCI models of female Wistar rats were prepared with reference to Allen punch method, and which were randomly divided into 3 groups: SCI group, BMSC transplantation group, BMSC transplantation + Piracetam group. At 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks post-injury, all animals were evaluated of the hind limb behavior with BBB score and inclined plane test. Four weeks post-transplantation, pathological sections hematoxylin-eosin staining was performed. SRY-PCR was used to detect the SRY gene which is a specific marker of Y chromosome, so that whether transplanted BMSC is survival. Eight weeks post-transplantation, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) tracing observation was performed, and the regeneration of axonal was observed according to transmission electron microscope.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: At 4 weeks after injury, the motor functions of hind limbs of rats between BMSC transplantation group and BMSC transplantation+ Piracetam group had significant recovery, the outcome of BMSC transplantation+ Piracetam group surpassed the BMSC transplantation group’s (P < 0.05). The SCI group’s outcome was similar to BMSC transplantation group and BMSC transplantation + Piracetam group, but its degree was lighter than the others’. Pathological simple SCI group has not seen the neural neuraxial through, a small amount of nerve axon-like structure could be seen in BMSC transplantation group, more nerve axon-like structure could be seen in BMSC transplantation+ Piracetam group.The SRY expression was detected in BMSC transplantation group and BMSC transplantation + Piracetam group, while SRY gene was not detected in SCI group. HRP-labeled neurofibra was found in spinal cord of BMSC transplantation+ Piracetam group, some in BMSC transplantation group but little in SCI group, there was significant difference (P < 0.05). Neonatal unmyelinated nerve fiber and myelinated nerve fiber could be seen in central transverse plane in BMSC transplantation group and BMSC transplantation + Piracetam group under transmission electron microscope. The effect of structural and functional recovery after SCI in BMSC transplantation + Piracetam group was significantly superior to BMSC transplantation group. BMSC transplantation combined with Piracetam has synergistic effects.