title: Intrathecal injection of bone marrow stromal cells attenuates neurologic injury after spinal cord ischemia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been shown that transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) into the ischemic brain improves functional outcome. We sought to investigate whether intrathecal injection of MSCs can attenuate neurologic injury of spinal cord ischemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rabbit MSCs were expanded in vitro and were pre-labeled with bromodeoxyuridine. Spinal cord ischemia was induced in rabbits by infrarenal aortic occlusion. Group A and control A were subjected to a 20-minute ischemia and the ischemic duration was extended to 30 minutes in group B and control B. Two days before spinal cord ischemia, 1 x 10(8) MSCs were intrathecally injected into groups A and B, whereas vehicle alone was injected into the control groups. Hind-limb motor function was assessed during a 14-day recovery period with Tarlov criteria, and then histologic examination was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Marrow stromal cells survived and engrafted into the spinal cord 2 days after transplantation, and more MSCs were found in the lumbar spinal cord (ischemic segment) than in the thoracic spinal cord (nonischemic segment) at 14 days. Compared with their respective control groups, Tarlov scores were significantly higher in both groups A and B (p < 0.05, group A vs control A, at 2, 7, and 14 days; p < 0.05, group B vs control B, at 1, 2, 7, and 14 days, respectively). The number of intact motor neurons was much higher in the two experimental groups (p < 0.01 vs the corresponding control groups, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intrathecal injection of MSCs attenuates ischemic injury of spinal cord.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Enyi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Teruhisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kazui
authors.forename: Xiaojing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Washiyama
authors.forename: Katsushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.forename: Abul Hasan Muhammad
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Bashar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002465:Cell Movement; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000637:transplantation; D003250:Constriction; D006085:Graft Survival; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000503:physiopathology; D007278:Injections, Spinal; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011817:Rabbits; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D020760:Spinal Cord Ischemia / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D013346:Subarachnoid Space; D013997:Time Factors