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

Combined therapy of human amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells and scalp acupuncture alleviates brain damage in a rat model of cerebral palsy

Background

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a prevalent cause of physical disability in children, often resulting from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, with current therapies often failing to address the underlying pathophysiology. This study aimed to investigate the potential synergistic effects of human amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) combined with scalp acupuncture in a rat model of CP.

Methods

Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: Sham, CP, hAMSCs, and hAMSCs+scalp acupuncture (hAMSCs+AP). The CP model was induced via left common carotid artery ligation. hAMSCs were administered through tail vein injection, followed by scalp acupuncture at Baihui (GV20) and Qubin (GB7) points. Neurobehavioral function was assessed using the Bederson score, and brain tissues were analyzed using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, TUNEL staining, and RT-qPCR for apoptosis-related genes.

Results

The CP group exhibited significant neurobehavioral deficits and increased apoptosis. Both hAMSCs and hAMSCs+AP treatments improved neurobehavioral function and reduced apoptosis. The combination therapy further decreased apoptosis levels, normalized mRNA expression of Bax, Caspase 9, and Caspase 3, and alleviated histological damage.

Conclusions

The combination of hAMSCs and scalp acupuncture provides a promising treatment for CP, potentially alleviating brain damage through apoptosis regulation. Further studies are required to elucidate the detailed mechanisms and assess clinical feasibility and safety.

Bibliometric Analysis and Visualized Study of Research on Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Ischemic Stroke

BACKGROUND

One of the major global causes of death and disability is ischemic stroke (IS). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) emerge as a cell-based therapy for numerous diseases. Recently, research on the role of MSCs in ischemic stroke has developed rapidly worldwide. Bibliometric analysis of MSCs for IS has not yet been published, though.

AIM

Through bibliometric analysis, the aim of this study was to assess the current state of research on MSCs in the field of ischemic stroke research worldwide and to identify important results, major research areas, and emerging trends.

METHODS

Publications related to MSCs in ischemic stroke from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2022, were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). We used HistCite, VOSViewer, CiteSpace, and Bibliometrix for bibliometric analysis and visualization. We employed the Total Global Citation Score (TGCS) to assess the impact of publications.

RESULTS

The bibliometric analysis included a total of 2,048 publications. The 1,386 papers used in this study were authored by 200 individuals across 200 organizations in 72 countries, published in 202 journals. Cesar V Borlongan published the most documents among high-productivity authors. Michael Chopp was the author with the highest average number of citations per paper, with an average paper citation time of 118.54. We found that research of MSCs in ischemic stroke developed rapidly starting in 2008. Neurosciences were the most productive journals, and Chinese researchers have produced the most research papers in this subject. The most cited article is "Systemic administration of exosomes released from mesenchymal stromal cells promotes functional recovery and neurovascular plasticity after stroke in rats".

CONCLUSION

This study uses both numbers and descriptions to thoroughly review the research on MSCs related to IS. This information provides valuable experience for researchers to carry out MSCs' work on IS.

Combination of stem cell therapy and acupuncture to treat ischemic stroke: a prospective review

Stroke is the second leading cause globally that leads to severe disability and death. Stem cell therapy has been developed over the recent years to treat stroke and diminish the mortality and disability rate of brain injuries. Acupuncture, which can activate endogenous recovery via physical stimuli, has been applied to enhance the recovery and rehabilitation of stroke patients. Attempts have been made to combine stem cell therapy and acupuncture to treat stroke patients and have shown the promising results. This prospective review will look into the possible mechanisms of stem cell therapy and acupuncture and intend to undercover the potential benefit of the combined therapy. It intends to bridge the modern emerging stem cell therapy and traditional acupuncture at cellular and molecular levels and to demonstrate the potential benefit to improve clinical outcomes.

10-O-(N N-Dimethylaminoethyl)-Ginkgolide B Methane-Sulfonate (XQ-1H) Ameliorates Cerebral Ischemia Via Suppressing Neuronal Apoptosis

OBJECTIVES

The 10-O-(N N-dimethylaminoethyl)-ginkgolide B methane-sulfonate (XQ-1H) is an effective novel drug for the treatment of ischemic cerebrovascular disease derived from Ginkgolide B, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. However, whether XQ-1H exerts neuroprotective effect via regulating neuronal apoptosis and the underlying mechanism remain to be elucidated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effect of XQ-1H in rats subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) and the oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) induced neuronal apoptosis on pheochromocytoma (PC-12) cells.

RESULTS

The results showed that administration of XQ-1H at different dosage (7.8, 15.6, 31.2 mg/kg) reduced the brain infarct and edema, attenuated the neuro-behavioral dysfunction, and improved cell morphology in brain tissue after MCAO/R in rats. Moreover, incubation with XQ-1H (1 µM, 3 µM, 10 µM, 50 µM, 100 µM) could increase the cell viability, and showed no toxic effect to PC-12 cells. XQ-1H at following 1 µM, 10 µM, 100 µM decreased the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and suppressed the cell apoptosis in PC-12 cells exposed to OGD/R. In addition, XQ-1H treatment could significantly inhibit caspase-3 activation both in vivo and in vitro, reciprocally modulate the expression of apoptosis related proteins, bcl-2, and bax via activating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. For mechanism verification, LY294002, the inhibitor of PI3K/Akt pathway was introduced the expressions of bcl-2 and phosphorylated Akt were down-regulated, the expression of bax was up-regulated, indicating that XQ-1H could alleviate the cell apoptosis through activating the PI3K/Akt pathway.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrated that XQ-1H treatment could provide a neuroprotective effect against ischemic stroke induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in vivo and in vitro through regulating neuronal survival and inhibiting apoptosis. The findings of the study confirmed that XQ-1H could be develop as a potential drug for treatment of cerebral ischemic stroke.

Modulation of Acupuncture on Cell Apoptosis and Autophagy

Acupuncture has been historically practiced to treat medical disorders by mechanically stimulating specific acupoints. Despite its well-documented efficacy, its biological basis largely remains elusive. Recent studies suggested that cell apoptosis and autophagy might play key roles in acupuncture therapy. Therefore, we searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), aiming to find the potential relationship between acupuncture and cell apoptosis and autophagy. To provide readers with objective evidence, some problems regarding the design method, acupoints selection, acupuncture intervention measure, and related diseases existing in 40 related researches were shown in this review. These findings demonstrated that acupuncture has a potential role in modulating cell apoptosis and autophagy in animal models, suggesting it as a candidate mechanism in acupuncture therapy to maintain physiologic homeostasis.

Assessment of Neuroprotective Properties of Melissa officinalis in Combination With Human Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells After Spinal Cord Injury

INTRODUCTION

The pathophysiology of spinal cord injury (SCI) has a classically bad prognosis. It has been demonstrated that human umbilical cord blood stem cells (hUCBSCs) and Melissa officinalis (MO) are useful for the prevention of neurological disease.

METHODS

Thirty-six adult male rats were randomly divided into intact, sham, control (SCI), MO, hUCBSC, and MO-hUCBSC groups. Intraperitoneal injection of MO (150 mg/kg) was commenced 24 hr post-SCI and continued once a day for 14 days. Intraspinal grafting of hUCBSCs was commenced immediately in the next day. The motor and sensory functions of all animals were evaluated once a week after the commencement of SCI. Electromyography (EMG) was performed in the last day in order to measure the recruitment index. Immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and transmission electron microscopy evaluations were performed to determine the level of astrogliosis and myelination.

RESULTS

The results revealed that motor function (MO-hUCBSC: 15 ± 0.3, SCI: 8.2 ± 0.37, p < .001), sensory function (MO-hUCBSC: 3.57 ± 0.19, SCI: 6.38 ± 0.23, p < .001), and EMG recruitment index (MO-hUCBSC: 3.71 ± 0.18, SCI: 1.6 ± 0.1, p < .001) were significantly improved in the MO-hUCBSC group compared with SCI group. Mean cavity area (MO-hUCBSC: 0.03 ± 0.03, SCI: 0.07 ± 0.004, p < .001) was reduced and loss of lower motor neurons (MO-hUCBSC: 7.6 ± 0.43, SCI: 3 ± 0.12, p < .001) and astrogliosis density (MO-hUCBSC: 3.1 ± 0.15, SCI: 6.25 ± 1.42, p < 0.001) in the ventral horn of spinal cord were prevented in MO-hUCBSC group compared with SCI group.

CONCLUSION

The results revealed that the combination of MO and hUCBSCs in comparison with the control group has neuroprotective effects in SCI.

Growth differentiation factor 15 may protect the myocardium from no‑reflow by inhibiting the inflammatory‑like response that predominantly involves neutrophil infiltration

The aim of the current study was to investigate the time course of the expression of growth differentiation factor‑15 (GDF‑15) in rat ischemic myocardium with increasing durations of reperfusion, and to elucidate its physiopathological role in the no‑reflow phenomenon. Wistar rats were randomly divided into ischemia reperfusion (I/R) and sham groups, and myocardial I/R was established by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery for 1 h followed by reperfusion for 2, 4, 6, 12, 24 h and 7 days whilst rats in the sham group were subjected to a sham operation. The expression levels of GDF‑15 and ICAM‑1 were measured, in addition to myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. The myocardial anatomical no‑reflow and infarction areas were assessed. The area at risk was not significantly different following various periods of reperfusion, while the infarct area and no‑reflow area were significantly greater following 6 h of reperfusion (P<0.05). The mRNA and protein expression levels of GDF‑15 were increased during the onset and development of no‑reflow, and peaked following 24 h of reperfusion. MPO activity was reduced with increasing reperfusion duration, while ICAM‑1 levels were increased. Hematoxylin and eosin staining demonstrated that myocardial neutrophil infiltration was significantly increased by I/R injury, in particular following 2, 4 and 6 h of reperfusion. GDF‑15 expression levels were negatively correlated with MPO activity (r=‑0.55, P<0.001), and the MPO activity was negatively correlated with the area of no‑reflow (r=‑0.46, P<0.01). By contrast, GDF‑15 was significantly positively correlated with ICAM‑1 levels (r=0.52, P<0.01), which additionally were demonstrated to be significantly positively associated with the size of the no‑reflow area (r=0.39, P<0.05). The current study demonstrated the time course effect of reperfusion on the expression of GDF‑15 in the myocardial I/R rat model, with the shorter reperfusion times (6 h) resulting in significant no‑reflow in ischemic myocardium. GDF‑15 may protect the I/R myocardium from no‑reflow by inhibiting the inflammatory‑like response, which involves neutrophil infiltration and transendothelial migration.