| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
One of the major problems with nerve grafts is that the survival of a graft segment, including endoneurial Schwann cells (SCs), is uncertain. In this study, we investigated whether the survival of nerve grafts improves when adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) are incorporated into the grafts. Grafts were entubulated to isolate them from the blood supply of surrounding tissues, mimicking the clinical conditions of a poorly vascularized recipient bed. When ASCs were transplanted to the epineurial layer of the grafts, the number of endoneurial TUNEL-positive cells decreased significantly, as compared to grafts without ASCs, at 10 days postoperatively. Walking track analysis also revealed that animals with the ASC-transplanted grafts had significantly faster motor function recovery, as compared to those with grafts without ASCs. These results suggest that nerve autografts, in combination with ASC therapy, could offer a new approach to obtaining optimal outcomes after peripheral nerve injury.
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