title: Intra-arterial delivery is not superior to intravenous delivery of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells in acute ischemic stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (MNCs) are an investigational autologous cell-based therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Both intravenous (IV) and intra-arterial (IA) administration routes have been used in clinical trials. However, the route of administration to optimize the effect of MNCs is unknown. In this study, we compared the effect of IV versus IA route of administration of MNCs in the rat stroke model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Long Evans rats were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. At 24 hours after stroke, animals were randomly assigned to receive autologous bone marrow-derived MNCs using either the IV or IA delivery route. IV saline served as control. One million cells/kg (low dose) and 30 million cells/kg (high dose) were assessed. Neurological testing, cavity size, serum cytokines, neuroregenerative end points, and MNC biodistribution were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High-dose MNCs improved functional recovery, reduced lesion size and proinflammatory cytokines, and increased vessel density and neurogenesis markers compared with saline treatment (P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences between IV and IA MNC-treated groups, although IV MNCs reduced serum interleukin-1β levels compared with IA MNCs (P<0.05). IA MNCs at high dose led to a greater number of cells in the brain at 1 and 6 hours after injection but not in the lungs and spleen. Low-dose MNCs (by IV or IA) did not improve any functional or structural end point compared with saline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At low and high doses of MNCs, we found that IV or IA achieves similar structural and functional outcomes after stroke.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Neurology, University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Elton
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Migliati
authors.forename: Kaushik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parsha
authors.forename: Krystal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schaar
authors.forename: XiaoPei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.forename: Jaroslaw
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aronowski
authors.forename: Sean I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Savitz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000473:pathology; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D007261:Infusions, Intra-Arterial; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D020127:Recovery of Function; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: animal model; bone marrow; intra-arterial; mononuclear cells; neurogenesis; stem cells; stroke