title: The effects of fetal allogeneic umbilical cord tissue transplant following experimental spinal cord injury on urinary bladder morphology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In continuation of our previous experimental study on spinal cord injury (SCI) using fetal stem cells, we investigated here the effects of fetal allogeneic umbilical cord tissue transplant on the urinary bladder morphology in a rat SCI model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five pregnant albino Wistar rats at 12 days of gestation were used to obtain the umbilical cord cell graft. In Group 1 (n = 5), Th8-Th9 laminectomy was performed. Group 2 (n = 5) received spinal cord injury. In Group 3 (n = 5), the cultured fetal umbilical cord cells coated with alginate gel were placed into the lesion cavity. In Group 4 (n = 5), only alginate sponges without umbilical cord cells were placed into the injury cavity. The bladders of animals were analyzed pathologically at 21 days after surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The thickness of the epithelium and the lamina propria did not differ among studied groups (p > 0.05). The lamina muscularis thickness was significantly higher in Group 2 and Group 4 than the others (p < 0.05). The bladder weight was similar among Groups 1, 2, and 3 (p > 0.05). Fibrosis was significantly increased in Group 2 (p < 0.05); it was greater in Group 2 than in Group 3 (p < 0.05) but did not differ between Groups 1 and 3 (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that allogeneic umbilical cord tissue transplantation after SCI may prevent bladder wall hypertrophy and fibrosis in the rat SCI model.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Fatih University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. uberdogan@yahoo.com
authors: Bülent
authors: B
authors: Erdogan
authors: Ozgur
authors: O
authors: Yaycioglu
authors: Iffet
authors: I
authors: Feride Sahin
authors: Fazilet
authors: F
authors: Kayaselcuk
authors: Berker
authors: B
authors: Cemil
authors: Emre
authors: E
authors: Cemal Gokce
authors: Murad
authors: M
authors: Bavbek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D053686:Fetal Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006984:Hypertrophy / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000166:cytology*; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000473:pathology*