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Abstract

Biology

Intraspinal Cavity Injection of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Tracking their Migration into the Rat Brain

Published: February 3rd, 2021

DOI:

10.3791/62120

1Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Institute, Samsung Medical Center, 2Stem Cell Institute, ENCell Co. Ltd, 3Department of Neurosurgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 4Animal Research and Molecular Imaging Center, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Samsung Medical Center, 5Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 6Neuroscience Center, Samsung Medical Center, 7Samsung Alzheimer Research Center, Samsung Medical Center

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been studied for the treatment of various diseases. In neurodegenerative diseases involving defects in both the brain and the spinal cord, the route of administration is very important, because MSCs must migrate to both the brain and the spinal cord. This paper describes a method for administering MSCs into the spinal canal (intraspinal cavity injection) that can target the brain and spinal cord in a rat model. One million MSCs were injected into the spinal canals of rats at the level of lumbar vertebrae 2-3. After administration, the rats were euthanized at 0, 6, and 12 h post-injection. Optical imaging and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were used to track the injected MSCs. The results of the present study demonstrated that MSCs administered via the spinal cavity could be detected subsequently in both the brain and spinal cord at 12 h. Intraspinal cavity injection has the advantage of not requiring general anesthesia and has few side effects. However, the drawback of the low migration rate of MSCs to the brain must be overcome.

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Keywords Mesenchymal Stem Cells

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