Effects of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Transplantation withSingle or Colony Form on the Functional Recovery inSpinal Cord Injured Rats

Abstract

Embryonic stem (ES) cells derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst-stage embryos are totipotent.Recent studies indicated the potential use of ES cells on transplantation in the central nervous system with different typeof injuries. The present study was conducted to investigate functional recovery following transplantation of human EScells with single or colony form after SCI. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital andsubjected to SCI model. Rats were laminectomized and SCI was induced using NYU spinal impactor at T9 spinal seg-ment. Human ES (HES) cells with single or colony form were transplanted 1 week after SCI. A behavioral test usingBBB locomotor rating scaling was performed. HES cells transplanted into rats promoted the hindlimb performance, anHES cell transplant significantly improves locomotion recovery. Especially, 2×104 HES cells with single form greatlyimproved hindlimb performance but colony-form did not. Histologically, 2×104 HES cells tended to fill the cavity butsingle form showed more reduced cavity size compared to colony. These results suggest that HES cells with single formare more effective in function recovery after transplantation in spinal cord injured rats compared to colony form.