title: Synergetic effects of ciliary neurotrophic factor and olfactory ensheathing cells on optic nerve reparation (complete translation).
abstract: At present, there is no effective treatment for the repair of the optic nerve after injury, or improvement of its microenvironment for regeneration. Intravitreally injected ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) promote the long-distance regrowth of severed optic nerve fibers after intracranial injury. Here, we examined the efficacy of these techniques alone and in combination, in a rat model of optic nerve injury. We injected condensed OEC suspension at the site of injury, or CNTF into the vitreous body, or both simultaneously. Retrograde tracing techniques showed that 4 weeks postoperatively, the number of surviving retinal ganglion cells and their axonal density in the optic nerve were greater in rats subjected to OEC injection only than in those receiving CNTF injection only. Furthermore, combined OEC + CNTF injection achieved better results than either monotherapy. These findings confirm that OECs are better than CNTF at protecting injured neurons in the eye, but that combined OEC and CNTF therapy is notably more effective than either treatment alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan Military General Hospital, Jinan, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Dan-Ping
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Jinan Military General Hospital, Jinan, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Qing-Ying
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0649-9688
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: cell survival; ciliary neurotrophic factor; intravitreal injection; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; olfactory ensheathing cells; optic nerve injury; regeneration; repair; retinal ganglion cells; retrograde tracing