Electroacupuncture Promotes the Differentiation of Transplanted Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Preinduced with Neurotrophin-3 and Retinoic Acid into Oligodendrocyte-Like Cells in Demyelinated Spinal Cord of Rats. Issue 7 (July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Zhou; He, Bing; Zhang, Rong-Yi; Zhang, Ke; Ding, Ying; Ruan, Jing-Wen; Ling, Eng-Ang; Wu, Jin-Lang; Zeng, Yuan-Shan
• Is Part Of: Cell transplantation. Volume 24:Issue 7(2015)
• Page Start: 1265
• Page End: 1281
• Publication Date: 2015-07
• Subjects: Multiple sclerosis (MS) -- Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) -- Electroacupuncture -- Tyrosine receptor kinase C (TrkC) -- Differentiation; Cell transplantation -- Periodicals; Cell Transplantation; Cell transplantation; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Periodicals; 571.638
• DOI: 10.3727/096368914X682099
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-6897

Abstract

Transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) promotes functional recovery in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and in a murine model of MS. However, there is only a modicum of information on differentiation of grafted MSCs into oligodendrocyte-like cells in MS. The purpose of this study was to transplant neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and retinoic acid (RA) preinduced MSCs (NR-MSCs) into a demyelinated spinal cord induced by ethidium bromide and to investigate whether EA treatment could promote NT-3 secretion in the demyelinated spinal cord. We also sought to determine whether increased NT-3 could further enhance NR-MSCs overexpressing the tyrosine receptor kinase C (TrkC) to differentiate into more oligodendrocyte-like cells, resulting in increased remyelination and nerve conduction in the spinal cord. Our results showed that NT-3 and RA increased transcription of TrkC mRNA in cultured MSCs. EA increased NT-3 levels and promoted differentiation of oligodendrocyte-like cells from grafted NR-MSCs in the demyelinated spinal cord. There was evidence of myelin formation by grafted NR-MSCs. In addition, NR-MSC transplantation combined with EA treatment (the NR-MSCs + EA group) reduced demyelination and promoted remyelination. Furthermore, the conduction of cortical motor-evoked potentials has improved compared to controls. Together, our data suggest that preinduced MSC transplantation combined with EA treatment not only increased MSC differentiation into oligodendrocyte-like cells forming myelin sheaths, but also promoted remyelination and functional improvement of nerve conduction in the demyelinated spinal cord.