Two reversible models of peripheral nerve degeneration and a possible tool to improve nerve conduction.

GONZALO PIÑERO; PAULA A, SOTO; VANINA USACH; CLARA P. SETTON

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Second FALAN Congress; 2016

Traumatic injury of peripheral nerves has a high incidence worldwide and reinnervation timing is critical. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) are a promising tool for regenerative therapies, as they can be easily obtained through non-invasive methods, render high cell yields, can proliferative easily and differentiate into many cell types, and most relevant, they can be used safely in autologous and heterologous transplant.The aim of the present work is to compare the Wallerian degeneration process promoted by 8-second or 30-second compression of the rat sciatic nerve and assess the effect of ASC transplant 7 days post-injury.ASCs were characterized through immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry for multipotent cell marker expression and, before transplant, labeled with rhodamine derivative fluorophore.Epifluorescence and confocal microscopy showed the arrival of ASCs exclusively to the injured nerve in both models. Morphological analyses showed a significant decrease in myelin basic protein (MBP) and neurofilament 200 (NF200) immunoreactivity (IR) as well as protein clustering organization. The 30-second crush model produced greater damage, with almost no MBP IR in the crush area and more discontinuous NF200 IR labeling.Electrophysiology studies showed ASC transplant to improve nerve conduction in both crush models as compared to non-transplanted animals.Further experiments will determine the effect of ASCs on other aspects of peripheral nerve regeneration.