Department of Health Sciences and Technology, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06351, Korea.
Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Institute, Samsung Medical Center, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06351, Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 13;21(4):1272. doi: 10.3390/ijms21041272.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered as promising therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative disorders because they can reduce underlying pathology and also repair damaged tissues. Regarding the delivery of MSCs into the brain, intravenous and intra-arterial routes may be less feasible than intraparenchymal and intracerebroventricular routes due to the blood-brain barrier. Compared to the intraparenchymal or intracerebroventricular routes, however, the intrathecal route may have advantages: this route can deliver MSCs throughout the entire neuraxis and it is less invasive since brain surgery is not required. The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution of human Wharton's jelly-derived MSCs (WJ-MSCs) injected via the intrathecal route in a rat model. WJ-MSCs (1 × 10) were intrathecally injected via the L2-3 intervertebral space in 6-week-old Sprague Dawley rats. These rats were then sacrificed at varying time points: 0, 6, and 12 h following injection. At 12 h, a significant number of MSCs were detected in the brain but not in other organs. Furthermore, with a 10-fold higher dose of WJ-MSCs, there was a substantial increase in the number of cells migrating to the brain. These results suggest that the intrathecal route can be a promising route for the performance of stem cell therapy for CNS diseases.
间充质干细胞（MSCs）被认为是治疗神经退行性疾病的有前途的治疗剂，因为它们可以减少潜在的病理，也可以修复受损的组织。关于将 MSCs 递送到大脑中，由于血脑屏障的存在，静脉内和动脉内途径可能不如脑实质内和脑室内途径可行。然而，与脑实质内或脑室内途径相比，鞘内途径可能具有优势：该途径可以将 MSCs 递送到整个中枢神经系统，并且由于不需要脑部手术，因此侵袭性较小。本研究的目的是研究通过鞘内途径注射的人 Wharton 氏胶衍生间充质干细胞（WJ-MSCs）在大鼠模型中的分布。WJ-MSCs（1×10）通过 L2-3 椎间空间鞘内注射入 6 周龄 Sprague Dawley 大鼠。然后在不同的时间点处死这些大鼠：注射后 0、6 和 12 小时。在 12 小时时，大量的 MSC 被检测到在大脑中，但不在其他器官中。此外，使用 10 倍高剂量的 WJ-MSCs，迁移到大脑的细胞数量显著增加。这些结果表明，鞘内途径可能是 CNS 疾病干细胞治疗的一种有前途的途径。
