Department of Radiological Life Sciences, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan.
J Radiat Res. 2010;51(1):73-9. doi: 10.1269/jrr.09091. Epub 2009 Oct 23.
The effective treatments of radiation-induced intestinal injury are currently unavailable. Developing new treatments for radiation-induced intestinal injury is thus important. The present study investigated whether transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is able to prevent radiation-induced intestinal injury. Intestines of female nude mice (ICR nu/nu) were irradiated at a single dose of 30 Gy. Transplantation of male MSCs (C57BL/6) was then immediately performed into the walls of irradiated intestine by direct injection for the irradiation + MSCs group. Mice were weighed daily and survival was recorded for 13 days after irradiation. From 13 to 27 days after irradiation, intestines of mice were obtained in order to assay histological changes by staining with hematoxylin-eosin and Masson trichrome. Mean body weight of the irradiation + MSC group was significantly higher than that of the irradiation-only group from 8 days after irradiation. In addition, survival rates were significantly higher in the irradiation + MSC group than for the irradiation-only group from 5 days after irradiation. Histological observation revealed that intestines of irradiation + MSC-transplanted mice were thick in the submucosal and muscle layers, and had almost fully recovered from radiation-induced intestinal injury at day 27. Specifically, ulcerated areas in the intestines of the irradiation + MSC-transplanted mice were smaller by 13 days after irradiation and were fewer in numbers at 27 days when compared with the irradiation-only group. Our results suggest that transplanted MSCs may play an important role in preventing radiation-induced injury and may offer a novel method to treat radiation-induced intestinal injury.
目前尚无有效的辐射诱导肠道损伤治疗方法。因此，开发辐射诱导肠道损伤的新治疗方法很重要。本研究探讨了间充质干细胞（MSCs）移植是否能够预防辐射诱导的肠道损伤。雌性裸鼠（ICR nu/nu）的肠道接受单次 30 Gy 照射。照射+MSCs 组通过直接注射将雄性 MSCs（C57BL/6）移植到照射肠道壁。每天称量小鼠体重并记录照射后 13 天的存活情况。照射后 13 至 27 天，获取小鼠肠道，通过苏木精-伊红和 Masson 三色染色检测组织学变化。照射+MSC 组的平均体重从照射后 8 天起明显高于照射组。此外，照射+MSC 组的存活率从照射后 5 天起明显高于照射组。组织学观察显示，照射+MSC 移植组的肠道黏膜下层和肌肉层较厚，在第 27 天已从辐射诱导的肠道损伤中基本完全恢复。具体来说，与照射组相比，照射+MSC 移植组的肠道溃疡面积在照射后 13 天更小，在 27 天时更少。我们的结果表明，移植的 MSCs 可能在预防辐射诱导损伤方面发挥重要作用，并为治疗辐射诱导的肠道损伤提供一种新方法。
