CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Wallerian degeneration induced by nerve lesion is a simple and useful experimental approach to study peripheral nervous system degeneration and regeneration. We have shown systemically transplanted bone marrow cells to spontaneously migrate to and remain in the injured nerve for as long as 60 days. A small number of these cells upregulated markers unexpressed before transplant, leading to cell phenotypic changes and transdifferentiation to Schwann cells, while a significantly larger proportion left the tissue once the inflammatory phase had finished. They also enhanced axonal regeneration and remyelination, promoted functional recovery and prevented lesion-induced hyperalgesia.The aim of the present work is to evaluate whether transplanted bone marrow cells exert their well-established beneficial effect on sciatic nerve regeneration through immunomodulation. Adult C57BL/6 mice received intravenous bone marrow cell or vehicle transplant after 8-second nerve crush. Along recovery, functional aspects were evaluated through hot plate and walking track tests. Animals were then sacrificed for immunohistochemistry, ELISA and flow cytometry studies. So far, the mouse model resembles results obtained in rats in terms of remyelination. Most interestingly, qPCR results showed that transplanted animals appear to undergo a downregulation of pro-inflammatory and an upregulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Further studies are required to fully corroborate immunomodulation effects.