Department of Neurosurgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 253 Gongye Road, 510282 Guangzhou, China.
Neurochem Res. 2011 May;36(5):783-92. doi: 10.1007/s11064-011-0402-9. Epub 2011 Jan 18.
Mesenchymal stem cells are capable of differentiating into Schwann-like cells. In this study, we induced human umbilical-cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) in vitro into neurospheres constituted by neural stem-like cells, and further into cells bearing strong morphological, phenotypic and functional resemblances with Schwann-like cells. These HUMSC-derived Schwann-like cells, after grafting into the injured area of the rats' spinal cord injury (SCI), showed a partial therapeutic effect in terms of improving the motor function. Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) was reported to improve the local microenvironment of the grafted cells, and we, therefore, further tested the effect of Schwann-like cell grafting combined with NT-3 administration at the site of cell transplantation. The results showed that NT-3 administration significantly promoted the survival of the grafted cells in the host-injured area. Significant improvement in rats treated by Schwann-like cell grafting combined with NT-3 administration was demonstrated in the behavioral test as compared with that in animal models received the cell grafting only. These results suggest that transplantation of the Schwann-like cells combined with NT-3 administration may represent a new strategy of stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury.
间充质干细胞可分化为施万样细胞。在本研究中，我们将人脐带间充质干细胞（HUMSC）在体外诱导为含有神经干细胞样细胞的神经球，并进一步诱导为具有施万样细胞强烈形态、表型和功能相似性的细胞。这些 HUMSC 来源的施万样细胞在移植到大鼠脊髓损伤（SCI）的损伤区域后，在改善运动功能方面表现出部分治疗效果。神经营养因子-3（NT-3）被报道可以改善移植细胞的局部微环境，因此，我们进一步测试了在细胞移植部位联合施万样细胞移植和 NT-3 给药的效果。结果表明，NT-3 给药显著促进了移植细胞在宿主损伤区域的存活。与仅接受细胞移植的动物模型相比，施万样细胞移植联合 NT-3 给药治疗的大鼠在行为测试中表现出显著改善。这些结果表明，施万样细胞移植联合 NT-3 给药可能代表了脊髓损伤干细胞治疗的一种新策略。
