Human bone marrow stem cells exhibit neural phenotypes and ameliorate neurological deficits after grafting into the ischemic brain of rats

Li Ru Zhao, Wei Ming Duan, Morayma Reyes, C. Dirk Keene, Catherine M. Verfaillie, Walter C Low

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

773 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is now evidence to suggest that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) not only differentiate into mesodermal cells, but can also adopt the fate of endodermal and ectodermal cell types. In this study, we addressed the hypotheses that human MSCs can differentiate into neural cells when implanted in the brain and restore sensorimotor function after experimental stroke. Purified human MSCs were grafted into the cortex surrounding the area of infarction 1 week after cortical brain ischemia in rats. Two and 6 weeks after transplantation animals were assessed for sensorimotor function and then sacrificed for histological examination. Ischemic rats that received human MSCs exhibited significantly improved functional performance in limb placement test. Histological analyses revealed that transplanted human MSCs expressed markers for astrocytes (GFAP+), oligodendroglia (GalC+), and neurons (βIII+, NF160+, NF200+, hNSE+, and hNF70+). The morphological features of the grafted cells, however, were spherical in nature with few processes. Therefore, it is unlikely that the functional recovery observed by the ischemic rats with human MSC grafts was mediated by the integration of new "neuronal" cells into the circuitry of the host brain. The observed functional improvement might have been mediated by proteins secreted by transplanted hMSCs, which could have upregulated host brain plasticity in response to experimental stroke.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)11-20
Number of pages10
JournalExperimental Neurology
Volume174
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Bruce Lindgren from Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, for his assistance with the statistical analyses, Linda Linnerud for her administrative assistance, and Anna Abt and Jonggul Kim for their technical assistance. This work was supported by the Lyle French Neurosurgery Research Fund, Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Univ. of Minnesota Bone Marrow Transplant Research Fund, the Leukemia Society of America, and NIH Grants 1F31AI/GM10291, 1F30MH12157, and R01-NS-40831.

Keywords

  • Bone marrow
  • Brain ischemia
  • Human
  • Middle cerebral artery occlusion
  • Rat
  • Stem cell
  • Stroke
  • Transplantation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Human bone marrow stem cells exhibit neural phenotypes and ameliorate neurological deficits after grafting into the ischemic brain of rats'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this