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Infused bone marrow stromal cells improve neurologic status after stroke in rats
Last Updated: 2001-04-05 16:00:45 EDT (Reuters Health)
By Steven Reinberg
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) - Using an animal model, researchers from the Henry Ford Health Sciences Center in Detroit have shown that infused bone marrow stromal cells (MSC) improve somatosensory behavior long after induced stroke, according to their report in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association for April.
"We found that we can take marrow stromal cells, inject these cells 1 to 7 days after a stroke and get a highly significant improvement in neurological function," Dr. Michael Chopp, a co-author of the report, told Reuters Health.
The researchers subjected 32 Wistar rats to 2 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion, which produces an infarction in about 40% of the cerebral hemisphere, Dr. Chopp explained.
The rats were then divided into five groups. The first group received no treatment. The second and third groups received intravenous infusion of either 1,000,000 MSCs or 3,000,000 MSCs 24 hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion. The fourth group also received no treatment and group five received 3,000,000 MSCs 7 days after middle cerebral artery occlusion.
Among the rats receiving 3,000,000 MSCs at both days 1 and 7, there were significant improvements in recovery of somatosensory behavior and Neurological Severity Score compared with control animals, the researchers report.
The rats in groups one, two and three were killed at 14 days after middle cerebral artery occlusion, and the rats in groups 4 and 5 were killed at 35 days. Using immunohistochemistry, the researchers identified MSCs or cells derived from MSCs in the brain and other organs of the rats.
"These cells are very smart; they home in to the site of injury very selectively where they activate the compensatory mechanisms of the endogenous brain cells," Dr. Chopp told Reuters Health. Unlike stem cells, these cells do not replace tissue but secrete growth factors over an extended period allowing tissue to repair itself, he explained.
"We have also successfully done this experiment in animal models of traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and Parkinson's, so this type of cell therapy may be useful for neural injury and neurodegenerative disease," Dr. Chopp concluded. "In June we will be submitting an application to the National Institutes of Health for a phase I trial, so I think we can move intelligently but rapidly into human trials."
Stroke 2001;31:1005-1011.
-Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700
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Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters Limited content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent of Reuters Limited. Reuters Limited shall not be liable for any error or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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