骨髓间充质干细胞移植治疗骨关节炎

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND:As the ability of self-renewal, differentiation and migration into damaged tissues, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells have been widely used in a variety of diseases. OBJECTIVE:To explore the therapeutic effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation on osteoarthritis in rats.METHODS:Thirty-six Wistar rats were randomly assigned into transplantation, model or control group. osteoarthritis models were established in the transplantation and model groups, followed by tail vein injection of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (5×10⁷/kg) or the same volume of normal saline, respectively. Rats in the control group were subjected to no treatment. Four weeks after injection, levels of CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory T cells in the spleen, interleukin-17, tumor necrosis factor-α and transforming growth factor-β1 in serum were detected, and arthritis index and the degree of joint swelling were evaluated as well.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the control group, both arthritis index and degree of joint swelling were increased significantly in the model group (P < 0.05), but these indicators exhibited a remarkable improvement after cell transplantation (P < 0.05). Levels of CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory T cells in the spleen in the three groups were ranked as follows: the transplantation group > the control group > the model group. The levels of interleukin-17 and tumor necrosis factor-α in serum in the transplantation group were lower than those in the model group but higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). Highest level of transforming growth factor-β1 was obtained in the transplantation group, followed by the control group and model group (P < 0.05). To conclude, these findings indicate that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation exert therapeutic effects in osteoarthritis rats by immune and cytokine regulation.