Effect of mesenchymal stem cell application in a spinal cord injury in vivo model

COCKEY SG; AQUINO JB; MAZZOLINI GD; FIORE, ESTEBAN J.; MAZZONE GL

Florida

Conferencia; Florida Undergraduate Research Conference (FURC); 2020

Florida Gulf Coast University

Spinal-cord injury (SCI) leads to progressive neuronal death and loss of locomotor function. While recent mesenchymal stem cell therapies have been considered as promising candidates for SCI treatment, the therapeutic strategies for achieving regeneration need further clarification. The goal of this project was to identify mechanisms related to repair processes in a mouse spinal cord injury in vivo model. BALB/c and or genetically engineered for GLASTCreERT2and Rosa26Tom mice were used. A compression spinal injury was done by applying an aneurysm clip at the thoraco-lumbar level for 1 min. The effect of the transplantation of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells, previously transduced with an adenovirus containing insulin-like growth factor 1 (AdIGF-1-MSCs) or GFP (control) gene was evaluated. Locomotor behavioral and histological studies were performed. Based on the open field behavioral test, the transplantation of AdIGF-1-MSCs may have accelerated recovery in movement. Furthermore, our preliminary data by histological analysis suggested an increased number of astrocytes in the areas surrounding the injury site. While the results of this experiment should be confirmed in future experiments, this project represents a step towards understanding the potentially therapeutic application of mesenchymal stem cells after spinal cord injury.