title: Long-lasting benefits after treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats with combination therapy of marrow stromal cells (MSCs) and simvastatin.
abstract: This study was designed to investigate the beneficial effects of combination therapy of simvastatin and marrow stromal cells (MSCs) in improving functional outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats. Adult female Wistar rats (n=72 and 8, per group) were injured with controlled cortical impact and treated either with monotherapy of MSCs or simvastatin or a combination therapy of these two agents. Different combination doses were tested, and nine groups of animals were studied. Neurological function was evaluated using Modified Neurological Severity Score (MNSS), and animals were sacrificed 3 months after injury. Coronal brain sections were stained with standard hematoxylin and eosin immunohistochemistry. Our results showed that, though functional improvement was seen with monotherapies of MSCs and simvastatin, the combination therapy when used in optimal doses was significantly better in improving functional outcome. This improvement was long lasting and persisted until the end of the trial (3 months). The optimum combination dose was 0.5mg of simvastatin combined with 2 x 10(6) MSCs. Post mortem analysis showed the presence of donor MSCs within the injured cortex. Endogenous cellular proliferation induced by the neurorestorative treatments was also observed in the lesion boundary zone. Our data show that MSCs and simvastatin have a synergistic effect in improving functional outcome after TBI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA. nsaam@neuro.hfh.edu
authors.forename: Asim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goussev
authors.forename: Dunyue
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Changsheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Humaira
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kazmi
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chopp
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020127:Recovery of Function; D019821:Simvastatin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D019821:Simvastatin