Magneto-targeting of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdSC) as a peripheral nerve regeneration strategy.

PAULA A, SOTO; VANINA USACH; GONZALO PIÑERO; DIEGO CORAL; MARCELA FERNANDEZ VAN RAAP; CLARA P. SETTON

CABA

Congreso; The role of Glia in Health and Disease of the Nervous System; 2017

Traumatic injury of peripheral nerves has a high incidence worldwide, and reinnervation timing after injury is critical to reach nerve recovery. Wallerian degeneration (WD) is an efficient animal experimental model in mimicking the impact of peripheral nerve lesion and shedding light on possible regeneration strategies.Adipose-derived stem cell (AdSC) transplant is a promising tool for regenerative therapies. By endocytosis, AdSC in culture can internalize iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNP), which can be driven to the lesion site by a static magnetic field permanently applied on the rat ipsilateral limb. In this context, the aim of the present work was to test whether AdSC-MNP Magneto targeting can enhance the regenerative ability of AdSC upon rat sciatic nerve crush. To this end, cultured AdSC were characterized through immunocytochemistry for multipotent cell marker expression. In addition, MNP internalization was demonstrated through magnetometry experiments, and AdSC-MNP viability was confirmed through MTT assays. In turn, in vivo epifluorescence microscopy and magnetometry analyses showed the arrival of transplanted AdSC-MNP exclusively at the injured nerve 7 days post-injury. Most important, AdSC-MNP beneficial effects on nerve regeneration were demonstrated through immunofluorescence and Western blot for MBP, and optical microscopy of semi-thin nerve slices.In short, our results prove AdSC-MNP to supersede AdSC arrival at the lesion site, probably enhancing nerve regeneration. Further experiments will determine the effect of AdSC-MNP on other aspects of the regeneration process.