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Objective: Transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) or Schwann cells (SCs) can facilitate axonal regeneration in peripheral nerve injuries. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of transplantation of BMSCs and SCs on functional recovery after injury to the sciatic nerve in the rat.Materials and Methods:In this experimental research, adult male Wistar rats (n=24, 250-300 g) were used, BMSCs and SCs were cultured, and SCs were confirmed with anti S100 antibody. Rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=8 in each group): 1; control group: silicon tube filled with fibrin gel without the cells, 2; BMSCs group: silicon tube filled with fibrin gel seeded with BMSCs and 3; SCs group: silicon tube filled with fibrin gel seeded with SCs. The left sciatic nerve was exposed, a 10 mm segment removed, and a silicone tube interposed into this nerve gap. BMSCs and SCs were separately transplanted into the gap in the two experimental groups and were labeled with anti BrdU and DiI respectively. After 12 weeks electrophysiological and functional assessments were performed and analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: Electrophysiological and functional assessments showed a significant differencebetween the experimental groups compared with the control group. Electrophysiologicalmeasures were significantly better in the SCs transplantation group compared with the BMSCs treatment group (p

Objective: Previous studies have shown that transplantation of bone marrow stromalcells (BMSCs) into the contused spinal cord improves functional recovery and that administrationof Schwann cells (SCs) after spinal cord injury (SCI) facilitates axonal regeneration.Although the efficacy of these treatments have been proven, when used individually,their resulting number of regenerated axons is small and locomotor recovery is modest;therefore, we decided to research whether co-transplantation of these cells can improvethe outcome.Materials and Methods: Adult male Wistar rats (n=56), each weighting 250-300 gramswere used. BMSCs and SCs were cultured and prelabeled with BrdU and 1,1' dioctadecyl3,3,3',3' tetramethylindocarbocyanin perchlorate respectively. Contusion model of SCIwas performed at the T8-9 level using NYU device (New York University device). The ratswere divided into seven groups, each consisting of 8 animals. These groups included: acontrol group, three experimental groups and three sham groups. In the control group,only a laminectomy was performed. The three experiment groups were the BMSC, SCand co-transplant groups, and 7 days after injury, they received intraspinal BMSCs, SCsand the combination of BMSCs & SCs respectively. The sham groups received serum inthe same manner. Locomotion in the groups was assessed using the basso, beatie andbresnahan (BBB) test at 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49 and 56 days after SCI.Results: More significant improvement was observed in the BBB scores of the co-transplantgroup (p

Introduction: Epineural suture and autologous graft are two routinetechniques in peripheral nerve surgery. However, their efficiency can behighly limited depending on the type of lesion and the gap between twonerve stumps and because of deficient proper nerve donors. So muchinterest has been focused on the development of alternative instruments forbridging the nerve gaps. In the present study, we have used chargedpolyvinelidene fluoride (PVDF) tube filled with nerve growth factor (NGF) andcollagen gel as a substitute for nerve autograft and compared the resultswith other current surgical techniques. We studied the changes of spinalmotoneurons to evaluate the effect of repairing techniques.Material and Methods: In this study, 30 male Wistar rats weighing 200-250g were divided randomly in five groups: axotomy, epineural suture, autograft,nerve guidance channel, and sham operation. In all experimental groups, theleft sciatic nerve was transected at mid-thigh level. The nerve was notrepaired in axotomy group. In epineural suture group, it was sutured end-toend.In autograft group, a 10 mm piece of nerve was rotated 180° andsutured again in the nerve gap. Finally, in nerve guidance channel group, apiece of PVDF tube containing NGF7s (100 ng/ml) and collagen gel (1.28mg/ml) was replaced in the gap. After one week, one month, and twomonths, L4-6 segments of spinal cord were removed and 5 μm paraffinsections were prepared for bax immunohistochemical study. In all groupscontralateral spinal cord was used as the control. The proportion of Baxpositiveapoptotic motoneurons was studied in all groups to evaluate theefficiency of different repairing techniques.Results: Mean percentage of Bax-positive neurons to the total number ofmotor neurons in left side was analyzed. One way ANOVA showedsignificant difference after two months. LSD post hoc test showed that meanpercentage of Bax-positive neurons in axotomized group was significantlyhigher compared to other surgical groups (p