Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) as one of the most important diseases of central nervous
system (CNS) without any definite treatment is still growing in incidence. In addition
to trauma, some surgeries such as cardiac and thoracic aorta surgery may result in
SCI as a complication. In last years, a promising approach has shed light on this
CNS injury thanks to stem cell technology. Stem cell therapy could be considered as
a good candidate for transplantation and enhancing neural regeneration in SCI. In
this study, we identified the effects of spinal cord-derived neural precursor cells
(NPCs) transplantation on SCI in after and before injury injection. Materials and Methods: NPCs were isolated from the adult rat spinal cord and cultured in vitro using complete
culture media. After neurosphere formation, the cells were differentiated to neurons,
oligodendrocytes, and astrocyte. The cells were transplanted to the rat model of SCI
in 1 day before and 1 day after injury. The animals were followed for 12 weeks to
assess their neurological performance. In addition, histological study and inflammatory
cytokines levels have been studied. Results: Our results indicate that NPCs infusion both pre- and post-SCI could decrease the
level of inflammatory cytokines. In addition, the neurological performance and histologic
studies showed recovery after this type of injury using NPCs, and it might be due
to inflammation modulatory effects on neural stem cells. Conclusion: NPCs therapy for SCI in both two-time points (before and after SCI) could be beneficial
and make a neurological recovery. In other words, NPCs therapy could be considered
as a therapeutic and also preventive approach for SCI.
Key-words:
Apoptosis - inflammation - neural precursor cells - protective - spinal cord injury
