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Juárez EH, Wood CR, Davies R, Kehoe O, Johnson WEB, Merighi A, Ferrini F. ST2-Conditioned Medium Fosters Dorsal Horn Cell Excitability and Synaptic Transmission in Cultured Mouse Spinal Cord. Stem Cell Rev Rep 2023; 19:2918-2928. [PMID: 37674016 PMCID: PMC10661801 DOI: 10.1007/s12015-023-10618-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/08/2023]
Abstract
Conditioned medium obtained from bone marrow-derived stem cells has been proposed as a novel cell-free therapy in spinal cord injury and neuropathic pain, yet the direct effect on spinal neuron function has never been investigated. Here, we adopted spinal cord organotypic cultures (SCOCs) as an experimental model to probe the effect of ST2 murine mesenchymal stem cells-conditioned medium (ST2-CM) on dorsal horn (DH) neuron functional properties. Three days of SCOC exposure to ST2-CM increased neuronal activity measured by Fos expression, as well as spontaneous or induced firing. We showed that the increase in neuronal excitability was associated with changes in both intrinsic membrane properties and an enhanced excitatory drive. The increased excitability at the single-cell level was substantiated at the network level by detecting synchronous bursts of calcium waves across DH neurons. Altogether, SCOCs represent a viable tool to probe mesenchymal cells' effect on intact neuronal networks. Our findings indicate that ST2-CM enhances neuronal activity and synaptic wiring in the spinal dorsal horn. Our data also support the trophic role of mesenchymal cells CM in maintaining network activity in spinal circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esri H Juárez
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, I-10095, Grugliasco, TO, Italy
| | - Chelsea R Wood
- Chester Medical School, University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester, CH1 4BJ, UK
- School of Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 2DS, UK
| | - Rebecca Davies
- Centre for Regenerative Medicine Research, School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK
- Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 7AG, UK
| | - Oksana Kehoe
- Centre for Regenerative Medicine Research, School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK
- Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 7AG, UK
| | - William E B Johnson
- Chester Medical School, University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester, CH1 4BJ, UK
| | - Adalberto Merighi
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, I-10095, Grugliasco, TO, Italy
| | - Francesco Ferrini
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, I-10095, Grugliasco, TO, Italy.
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Université Laval, Québec, G1K 7P4, Canada.
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