CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

When systemically transplanted after lesion, multipotent bone marrow cells (BMMC) migratespontaneously to the injured sciatic nerve, as observed in a model of reversible sciatic nervecrush. Once at the Ipsilateral nerve, BMMC promote regeneration in terms of morphology,slightly improve the amplitude of compound muscle action potential and fully prevent injury-associated neuropathic pain. So as to propose systemic BMMC transplant as a potentialtherapeutic strategy, the aim of the present work is to determine the most adequate momentfor BMMC transplant after injury to optimize their effects on nerve regeneration. Adult Wistarrats submitted to 8-second sciatic nerve crush were systemically transplanted with BMMC atdifferent survival times post lesion and sacrificed 7 days after transplant. Cell recruitment wasconfirmed by confocal microscopy and transplant effects were evaluated only in animalstransplanted 7 days post injury. Results show the highest number of BMMC recruited into theipsilateral nerve when transplanted at the peak of demyelination, 7 days post injury. Partialrecovery was observed in terms of myelin and axonal protein organization and levels; with noeffects on sciatic functional index detected. However, a remarkable and sustained reduction inmechanical and cold allodynia was promoted by late BMMC transplant. Further experimentsare guaranteed to establish the best timing for late BMMC transplant towards treatment ofperipheral demyelination processes.