Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112304, Taiwan.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112201, Taiwan.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Mar 15;23(6):3149. doi: 10.3390/ijms23063149.
Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability. In our previous study, transplantation of human umbilical mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) in Wharton's jelly in the acute phase of ischemic stroke promotes recovery in rats. Unfortunately, there is no cure for chronic stroke. Patients with chronic stroke can only be treated with rehabilitation or supportive interventions. This study aimed to investigate the potential of xenograft of HUMSCs for treating chronic stroke in rats. Rats were subjected to 90 min middle cerebral artery occlusion and then reperfusion to mimic ischemic cerebral stroke. On day 14 following stroke, HUMSCs were transplanted into the damaged cerebral cortex. The motor function in rats of the Stroke + HUMSCs group exhibited significant improvement compared to that of the Stroke + Saline group, and the trend persisted until day 56 post stroke. The cerebral cortex changes were tracked using magnetic resonance imaging, showing that cerebral atrophy was found starting on day 7 and was reduced significantly in rats receiving HUMSCs compared to that in the Stroke + Saline group from day 21 to day 56. HUMSCs were found to be existed in the rats' cerebral cortex on day 56, with signs of migration. The grafted HUMSCs did not differentiate into neurons or astrocytes and may release cytokines to improve neuroprotection, decrease inflammation and increase angiogenesis. Our results demonstrate that xeno-transplantation of HUMSCs has therapeutic benefits for chronic ischemic stroke. Most importantly, patients do not need to use their own HUMSCs, which is a gospel thing for clinical patients.
中风是导致成年人残疾的主要原因。在我们之前的研究中，在缺血性中风的急性期将人脐带间充质干细胞（HUMSCs）移植到华通氏胶中，可促进大鼠的恢复。不幸的是，慢性中风没有治愈方法。慢性中风患者只能接受康复或支持性干预。本研究旨在探讨异种异体 HUMSCs 治疗大鼠慢性中风的潜力。大鼠接受 90 分钟大脑中动脉闭塞，然后再灌注以模拟缺血性脑卒中。中风后第 14 天，将 HUMSCs 移植到受损的大脑皮层。与中风+盐水组相比，中风+HUMSCs 组的大鼠运动功能明显改善，这种趋势一直持续到中风后第 56 天。使用磁共振成像跟踪大脑皮层的变化，显示从第 7 天开始发现脑萎缩，并且从第 21 天到第 56 天，接受 HUMSCs 治疗的大鼠脑萎缩明显减少。在第 56 天，发现 HUMSCs 存在于大鼠大脑皮层中，有迁移的迹象。移植的 HUMSCs 不会分化为神经元或星形胶质细胞，可能会释放细胞因子以改善神经保护，减少炎症并增加血管生成。我们的研究结果表明，异种移植 HUMSCs 对慢性缺血性中风具有治疗作用。最重要的是，患者不需要使用自己的 HUMSCs，这对临床患者来说是福音。
