Co-transplantation of syngeneic mesenchymal stem cells improves survival of allogeneic glial-restricted precursors in mouse brain.

Co-transplantation of syngeneic mesenchymal stem cells improves survival of allogeneic glial-restricted precursors in mouse brain. Exp Neurol. 2015 Oct 26; Authors: Srivastava AK, Bulte CA, Shats I, Walczak P, Bulte JW Abstract Loss of functional cells from immunorejection during the early post-transplantation period is an important factor that reduces the efficacy of stem cell-based therapies. Recent studies have shown that transplanted mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can exert therapeutic effects by secreting anti-inflammatory and pro-survival trophic factors. We investigated whether co-transplantation of MSCs could improve the survival of other transplanted therapeutic cells. Allogeneic glial-restricted precursors (GRPs) were isolated from the brain of a firefly luciferase transgenic FVB mouse (at E13.5 stage) and intracerebrally transplanted, either alone, or together with syngeneic MSCs in immunocompetent BALB/c mice (n=20) or immunodeficient Rag2(-/-) mice as survival control (n=8). No immunosuppressive drug was given to any animal. Using bioluminescence imaging (BLI) as a non-invasive readout of cell survival, we found that co-transplantation of MSCs significantly improved (p<0.05) engrafted GRP survival. No significant change in signal intensities was observed in immunodeficient Rag2(-/-) mice, with transplanted cells surviving in both the GRP only and the GRP+MSC group. In contrast, on day 21 post-transplantation, we observ...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Exp Neurol Source Type: research