Implantation of adipose-derived stem cells cures the optic nerve injury on rats through inhibiting the expression of inflammation factors in the TLR4 signaling pathway.

Objective: The use of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) to cure the optic nerve injury was never shown previously. Here, we implanted purified ADSCs into optic nerve injury of rats.
Materials and Methods: Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were used in this study. The vision degeneration was detected by Flash-visual evoked potential (F-VEP) assay. The expression of Macrophage-1 (Mac-1), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), and nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) were studied by Western blot. The expression of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the optical nerve lysates were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: We found out that ADSC implantation inhibits the amplitude decrease and latency increase of the P1 wave caused by the optic nerve injury. The expression of the inflammation associated proteins of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway, including Mac-1, MyD88, NF-κB, IL-6, and TNF-α, were inhibited in the ADSC therapy group compared to the control group.
Conclusions: Our results indicated that ADSC implantation can inhibit the inflammation after the optic nerve injury and improve the functional vision impairment. These findings suggested ADSC implantation as a translational therapy method for optic nerve injury in clinics.