Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Transplantation Combined with Erythropoietin in Rats with Spinal Cord Injury

Objective To study the effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells(BMSCs) transplantation combined with erythropoietin(EPO) on the neurological function recovery in rats with spinal cord injury and to explore the possible molecular mechanism.Methods BMSCs were isolated,cultured and purified in vitro.The rat model with spinal cord injury was prepared by modified Allen method.Total 75 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham operation group,spinal cord injury group(SCI group),EPO treatment group,BMSCs transplantation group,EPO combined BMSCs group.rhEPO was given with peritoneal injection at a dose of 5 000 U/kg at 24 h before spinal cord injury.Purified BMSCs were transplanted with tail vein injection after spinal cord injury.The motor function of hind limb was evaluated with BBB score,the neurological function recovery of rats was observed,the morphological changes were observed by HE staining at 1,28 d after operation.The protein level of brain derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) was detected by Western blot at 14 d.Results Compared with SCI group,the motor function recovery of hind limb and morphological improvement were observed from 3 d postoperation in EPO group and BMSCs group,which was more obviously in EPO combined BMSCs group(P0.05).The Western blot results showed that the BDNF expression level of sham operation group was the lowest among the five groups,while it was slightly increased in SCI group.Compared with above two groups,the expression of BDNF was obviously increased in EPO group and BMSCs group(P0.05),which was more higher in the combined group than that of single EPO group or BMSCs group.Conclusion BMSCs transplantation combined with EPO can recover the neurological function in rats with spinal cord injury by up-regulating the expression of BDNF.