Effect of mesenchymal stem cells on movement and urination of rats with spinal cord injury

• Main Authors: Alexandra Justino da Silva, José Ademar Villanova Junior, Leticia Fracaro, Carmen Lúcia Kuniyoshi Rebelatto, Fabiane Barchiki, Sérgio Adriane Bezerra de Moura, Alejandro Correa Dominguez, Ana Paula Resseti Abud, Rosângela Locatelli-Dittrich, Paulo Roberto Slud Brofman, Juliany Gomes Quitzan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual de Londrina 2014-12-01
• Series: Semina: Ciências Agrárias
• Subjects: Spinal cord injury; Paraplegia; Urinary incontinence; Cell therapy; Bioluminescence
• Online Access: http://www.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/semagrarias/editor/submission/17036
• ISSN: 1676-546X; 1679-0359

Cell therapy has frequently been reported as a possible treatment for spinal trauma in humans and animals; however, without pharmacologically curative action on damage from the primary lesion. In this study, we evaluated the effect of administering human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSC) in rats after spinal cord injury. The hADSC were used between the third and fifth passages and a proportion of cells were transduced for screening in vivo after transplantation. Spinal cord injury was induced with a Fogarty catheter no. 3 inserted into the epidural space with a cuff located at T8 and filled with 80 µL saline for 5 min. The control group A (n = 12) received culture medium (50 µL) and group B (n = 12) received hADSC (1.2 × 106) at 7 and 14 days post-injury, in the tail vein. Emptying of the bladder by massage was performed daily for 3 months. Evaluation of functional motor activity was performed daily until 3 months post-injury using the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan scale. Subsequently, the animals were euthanized and histological analysis of the urinary bladder and spinal cord was performed. Bioluminescence analysis revealed hADSC at the application site and lungs. There was improvement of urinary bladder function in 83.3% animals in group B and 16.66% animals in group A. The analysis of functional motor activity and histology of the spinal cord and urinary bladder demonstrated no significant difference between groups A and B. The results indicate that transplanted hADSC improved urinary function via a telecrine mechanism, namely action at a distance.