Combinatorial effects of conception and governor vessel electroacu- puncture and human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells on pathomorphologic lesion and cellular apoptosis in rats with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion

OBJECTIVE： To investigate the combinatorial ef- fects of conception and governor vessel electroacu- puncture （EA） and human umbilical cord blood-de- rived mesenchymal stem cells （HUCB-MSCs） on pathomorphologic lesion and cellular apoptosis in rats with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. METHODS： With the HUCB-MSCs isolated, cultured and identified and the models of cerebral isch- emia-reperfusion established, the HUCB-MSCs of passage three were intracranially transplanted andthe EA at conception and governor vessels was ap- plied. The pathomorphologic lesion by hematoxy- lin-eosin staining and the cellular apoptosis by ter- minal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick-end labeling method around the ischemic fo- cus were observed. RESULTS： The cultured adherent HUCB-MSCs ex- hibited a spindle shape and expressed MSC-specif- ic markers, with the cell purity and proliferation rate significantly increasing after the primary pas- sage. HE staining showed that there were no patho- logical changes observed in the sham surgery group. However, in the PBS transplantation group, degeneration and necrosis of a great number of nerve cells were seen. In both the HUCB-MSCs transplantation group and the HUCB-MSCs trans- plantation ＋ EA group, reparative changes of the pathomorphism of the tissue were found. Both combination treatment and simple MSCs treat- ment were able to improve the pathomorphorlogic lesion following cerebral ischemia and reduce the abnormal TUNEL-positive numbers, with former better than latter. CONCLUSION： HUCB-MSCs improve pathological lesions and inhibit the cellular apoptosis around the cerebral ischemic area. EA at conception and governor vessels also improve pathological lesion and inhibit the cellular apoptosis in rats treated with HUCB-MSCs transplantation, which effects were superior to that of simple HUCB-MSCs trans- plantation.