Galectin-1-induced skeletal muscle cell differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells seeded on an acellular dermal matrix improves injured anal sphincter.

According to recent studies, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) transplanted via local or tail vein injection can improve healing after anal sphincter injury (ASI) in animal models. However, the transplanted MSCs do not generate skeletal muscle that completely resembles the natural anal sphincter structure. In the present study, we investigated whether bone marrow (BM)-derived MSCs could be induced by Galectin-1 (Gal-1) to differentiate into skeletal muscle and whether the recellularization of an acellular dermal matrix (ADM) with skeletal muscle-differentiated MSCs represents a promising approach to restore ASI in a rat model. BM-MSCs subjected to adenovirus-mediated transfection with Gal-1-GFP (Ad-GFP-Gal-1) displayed increased Gal-1 and desmin expression and differentiated into skeletal muscle cells. MSCs transfected with Ad-GFP-Gal-1 (MSC-Gal-1) were seeded onto an ADM (ADM-MSC-Gal-1) via co-culture, and fusion was observed using a confocal laser scanning microscope. ADM-MSC-Gal-1, ADM-MSC, ADM-MSC-Ad, ADM, or a saline control was applied to a rat ASI model, and injury healing was evaluated via histological examination 6 weeks following treatment. ADM-MSC-Gal-1 treatment promoted significant healing after ASI and improved external anal sphincter contraction curves compared with the other treatments and also led to substantial skeletal muscle regeneration and neovascularization. Our results indicate that repair using ADMs and differentiated MSCs may improve muscle regeneration and restore ASI.