Survival and number of olfactory ensheathing cells transplanted in contused spinal cord of rats.
OBJECTIVE
To observe the survival and the number of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) transplanted in the contused spinal cord, so as to provide a basis for further studying the biological action of OECs.


METHODS
The rat spinal cords were contused with NYU-impactor II at T10 level by dropping a 10 g rod from a height of 25 mm. At the 1st week after injury, OECs isolated freshly from green fluorecense protein (GFP) of the rats were transplanted into the spinal cord at injured site and other two sites 1 mm apart from the caudal and rostral ends with the OECs number of 30000/μl x 3 = 90000. The survival and the number of OECs were qualitatively and semi-quantitatively observed under the fluorescense microscope from 1 week to 13 weeks after transplantation. The motor function of the cord was evaluated with BBB score.


RESULTS
GFP-OECs could survive at least for 13 weeks within the contused spinal cord. Their arrangement was from tight to loose and their number was decreased from 1 week to 13 weeks after injury. The average number of GFP-OECs was 536 at the 1st week, which was less than 1% of the number as compared with original transplantation. After then, the number of GFP-OECs was continually decreased, but the most obvious decrease was found during 1 week to 2 weeks. The extent of decrease at other time points was relatively mild. In contrast to the cell number, motor function of the cord was gradually recovered after transplantation.


CONCLUSIONS
The survival and the number of GFP-OECs are different between the animals and are affected by the pathological reaction of the host cord. Also it is related to the motor function recovery of the contused cord.
Department of Minimal Invasive Neurosurgery of First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China.
Yue
Y
Li
Hua-lin
HL
Yu
Li-fa
LF
Chen
Chao-xia
CX
Duan
Jie-yuan
JY
Zhang
Bing-cang
BC
Li
D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D002470:Cell Survival; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D009043:Motor Activity; D009410:Nerve Degeneration; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000503:physiopathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*