2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Intravenous infusion of adipose-derived stem/stromal cells improves functional recovery of rats with spinal cord injury.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21791758
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Plastic surgery
Research Institution	St. Marianna University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator	OHTA Yuki 聖マリアンナ医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (60387066)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Keywords	再生医学 / 脂肪組織 / 脊髄損傷 / 細胞治療
Research Abstract	Adipose tissue is a potential source for cell therapy to treat spinal cord injury(SCI) because it contains multipotent cells known as adipose-derived stem/stromal cells(ASCs). Here, we performed intravenous infusion of ASCs in rats with SCI. ASCs significantly promoted functional recovery of SCI rats compared with control animals, and the area of spinal cord cavitation was smaller in the ASC group. ASCs gradually accumulated at the site of injury, but long-term survival of these cells was not demonstrated. Spinal cord tissue levels of trophic factors were not increased after ASC infusion. Interestingly, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1(CINC-1) showed a transient increased in both the spinal cord tissue and blood of the ASC group. CINC-1 was secreted by ASCs in vitro, and the sponge implantation assay showed that ASCs induced angiogenesis as did CINC-1.These findings suggest that CINC-1 may play an important role in recovery from SCI after ASC transplantation.