title: Analysis of the neuroregenerative activities of mesenchymal stem cells in functional recovery after rat spinal cord injury.
abstract: Spinal cord injury (SCI) involves concurrent, interacting pathological processes, and requires a multifaceted therapeutic strategy. Stem cell-based transplantation holds great promise as such an approach. We have reported that stem cells derived from human dental pulp have remarkable neuroregenerative activity, and that when transplanted into animal models of SCI, these cells promote functional recovery by inhibiting massive SCI-induced apoptosis, preserving neural fibers and myelin, regenerating transected axons, and replacing damaged cells by differentiating into oligodendrocytes. Here, we introduce some details of our experimental procedures, which may serve as a guide for designing experiments to evaluate the therapeutic benefits of various types of stem cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan, akihito@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akihito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Kohki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: Fumiya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kano
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000166:cytology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned