Intrathecal Transplantation of Wharton's Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells Suppresses the Nlrp1 Inflammasome in the Rat Model of Spinal Cord Injury Publisher Pubmed



Mohamadi Y^{1, 2} ; Noori Moghahi SMH³ ; Mousavi M³ ; Borhanihaghighi M^{3, 4} ; Abolhassani F³ ; Kashani IR³ ; Hassanzadeh G³
Source: Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy Published:2019

Abstract

After spinal cord injury (SCI) local inflammation is induced following secretion of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and IL-18. It has been described that the secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 is mediated by a cytoplasmic multiprotein complex, termed inflammasome. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been extensively used for treating inflammatory diseases in which they showed immunomodulation characteristics. We utilized the anti-inflammatory potential of Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) to target inflammasome complex in rat SCI model. Real time-polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and ELISA assay were done one week after SCI to measure the expression of the inflammasome components including NLRP1, ASC, and active caspase-1 as well as IL-1β IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). The histologic alteration and hind-limb locomotion were evaluated three weeks after injury by nissl staining and Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan (BBB), respectively. Our results showed that WJ-MSCs transplantation significantly decreased the SCI-induced expression of the evaluated factors in both mRNA and protein levels. In addition, WJ-MSCs significantly increased the number of normal-appearance neurons in the ventral horn of spinal cord. Noteworthy, these effects resulted in a significant improvement of motor function recovery. We conclude that inflammasome inhibition may be one of the mechanisms for the anti-inflammatory effect of MSCs in the SCI. © 2019