title: Intracerebral transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood alleviates hypoxic ischemic brain injury in rat neonates.
abstract: Fetal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI) is a severe condition for which no effective therapy exists. In this study mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from human umbilical cord blood (UCB) of full-term newborns were isolated and intracerebrally transplanted into rat neonates after HIBI induction. Nerve function was assessed by the modified neurological severity scores (mNSS) to establish if MSCs could alleviate nerve injury.
  
  
  
  Immunostaining showed the transplanted MSCs migrated to the hippocampus. Rats receiving MSCs treatment showed significant improvement in the mNSS when compared with controls. Also, histochemical study showed alleviation of brain tissue injury after MSCs treatment. Differentiation of MSCs to astrocytes, but not neurons, was observed.
  
  
  
  The results indicate a beneficial effect of intracerebral transplantation of MSCs on the functional recovery of rat neonates with HIBI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Guizhi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Xinru
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Xinmin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Fenghua
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Guocheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lianming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D020925:Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain / Q000628:therapy*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011247:Pregnancy; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms