Preserved Hippocampal Glucose Metabolism on 18F-FDG PET after Transplantation of Human Umbilical Cord Blood-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Chronic Epileptic Rats.
Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) may be a promising modality for treating medial temporal lobe epilepsy. (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is a noninvasive method for monitoring in vivo glucose metabolism. We evaluated the efficacy of hUCB-MSCs transplantation in chronic epileptic rats using FDG-PET. Rats with recurrent seizures were randomly assigned into three groups: the stem cell treatment (SCT) group received hUCB-MSCs transplantation into the right hippocampus, the sham control (ShC) group received same procedure with saline, and the positive control (PC) group consisted of treatment-negative epileptic rats. Normal rats received hUCB-MSCs transplantation acted as the negative control (NC). FDG-PET was performed at pre-treatment baseline and 1- and 8-week posttreatment. Hippocampal volume was evaluated and histological examination was done. In the SCT group, bilateral hippocampi at 8-week after transplantation showed significantly higher glucose metabolism (0.990 ± 0.032) than the ShC (0.873 ± 0.087; P < 0.001) and PC groups (0.858 ± 0.093; P < 0.001). Histological examination resulted that the transplanted hUCB-MSCs survived in the ipsilateral hippocampus and migrated to the contralateral hippocampus but did not differentiate. In spite of successful engraftment, seizure frequency among the groups was not significantly different. Transplanted hUCB-MSCs can engraft and migrate, thereby partially restoring bilateral hippocampal glucose metabolism. The results suggest encouraging effect of hUCB-MSCs on restoring epileptic networks.
Department of Neurology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. ; The Asan Institute for Life Science, Seoul, Korea.
Ga Young
GY
Park
Department of Neurology, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, Korea.
Eun Mi
EM
Lee
Adult Stem Cell Research, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Min-Soo
MS
Seo
Adult Stem Cell Research, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Yoo-Jin
YJ
Seo
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Jungsu S
JS
Oh
Department of Pathology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Woo-Chan
WC
Son
Department of Pediatrics, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Ki Soo
KS
Kim
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Jae Seung
JS
Kim
Department of Neurology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Joong Koo
JK
Kang
Adult Stem Cell Research, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Kyung-Sun
KS
Kang
D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
Animal Model of Chronic Epilepsy; Cell Therapy; Lithium-pilocarpine; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; Positron-emission Tomography