Efficiency of Transplantation of Human Placental/Umbilical Blood Cells to Rats with Severe Spinal Cord Injury

• Published in: Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine Vol. 157; no. 1; pp. 85 - 88
• Main Authors: Ryabov, S. I., Zvyagintseva, M. A., Pavlovich, E. R., Smirnov, V. A., Grin’, A. A., Chekhonin, V. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.05.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Cell Technologies; Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; Fetal Blood - cytology; Fetal Blood - physiology; Hindlimb - innervation; Hindlimb - pathology; Injections, Intravenous; Internal Medicine; Laboratory Medicine; Laminectomy; Male; Motor Activity - physiology; Pathology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Recovery of Function; Severity of Illness Index; Spinal Cord Injuries - pathology; Spinal Cord Injuries - therapy; Transplantation, Heterologous; Treatment Outcome; umbilical blood cells; cell therapy; severe spinal cord injury
• ISSN: 0007-4888; 1573-8221
• DOI: 10.1007/s10517-014-2498-9

The effects of a single intravenous injection of human umbilical blood were studied on the model of severe spinal cord contusion injury in rats. Rats receiving no umbilical blood (spontaneous recovery) served as the control. All rats exhibited pronounced hind limb paraplegia and autonomic dysfunction of pelvic organs after the injury. Recovery of the hind limb function was evaluated by loading tests and locomotor activity testing in the open field using BBB score for open-field testing. Testing was carried out weekly for 8 weeks after the injury. Open-field testing showed a significant ( p < 0.05) increase of the rate and volume of the hind limb motor activity recovery in the groups receiving umbilical blood infusions.