title: Mesenchymal stromal cells integrate and form longitudinally-aligned layers when delivered to injured spinal cord via a novel fibrin scaffold.
abstract: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been shown to promote healing and regeneration in a number of CNS injury models and therefore there is much interest in the clinical use of these cells. For spinal cord injuries, a standard delivery method for MSCs is intraspinal injection, but this can result in additional injury and provides little control over how the cells integrate into the tissue. The present study examines the use of a novel fibrin scaffold as a new method of delivering MSCs to injured spinal cord. Use of the fibrin scaffold resulted in the formation of longitudinally-aligned layers of MSCs growing over the spinal cord lesion site. Host neurites were able to migrate into this MSC architecture and grow longitudinally. The length of the MSC bridge corresponded to the length of the fibrin scaffold. MSCs that were delivered via intraspinal injection were mainly oriented perpendicular to the plane of the spinal cord and remained largely restricted to the lesion site. Host neurites within the injected MSC graft were also oriented perpendicular to the plane of the spinal cord.
authors.affiliation: John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0PY, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alex J T
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hyatt
authors.affiliation: John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0PY, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Difei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0PY, United Kingdom; University Eye Hospital, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Oterendorp
authors.affiliation: John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0PY, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Fawcett
authors.affiliation: John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0PY, United Kingdom; Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UK; Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, UK. Electronic address: krgm2@cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Keith R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005337:Fibrin; D007278:Injections, Spinal; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D005337:Fibrin
keywords: Cell scaffold; Fibrin; Mesenchymal stromal cells; Spinal cord injury