Mesenchymal stem cells attenuate MRI-identifiable injury, protect white matter, and improve long-term functional outcomes after neonatal focal stroke in rats.

ABSTRACT: Cell therapy has emerged as a potential treatment for many neurodegenerative diseases including stroke and neonatal ischemic brain injury. Delayed intranasal administration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) after experimental hypoxia-ischemia and after a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) in neonatal rats has shown improvement in long-term functional outcomes, but the effects of MSCs on white matter injury (WMI) are insufficiently understood. In this study we used longitudinal T2-weighted (T2W) and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to characterize chronic injury after tMCAO induced in postnatal day 10 (P10) rats and examined the effects of delayed MSC administration on WMI, axonal coverage, and long-term somatosensory function. We show unilateral injury- and

SUBMITTER: van Velthoven CT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5352529 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature