Therapeutic and immunomodulatory effects of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells on adjuvant arthritis in rats / 中国基层医药

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the therapeutic and immunomodulatory effects of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) on adjuvant arthritis(AA) rats.@*Methods@#Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were established with AA by complete Freund's adjuvant method.They were randomly divided into model group and hUC-MSCs group (2×106 cells/mL, 5×106 cells/mL, tail vein injection), and the Yisaipu group (2.8mg/kg, subcutaneous injection), 6 rats in each group.Another 6 male SD rats were used as the control group.After the model was established, the body weight and paw volume were recorded weekly, the whole body score and the arthritis index score were calculated, and the joint swelling number was calculated.The animals were sacrificed after d35, the weight of thymus and spleen were weighed, and the corresponding index was calculated, the histopathological changes of the ankle joint were observed by HE staining.The percentages of CD4+ CD44+ T cell and CD4+ CD62L+ T cell were detected by flow cytometry.The levels of TNF-α, IL-1β in the serum of AA rats were detected by ELISA.@*Results@#hUC-MSCs relieved paw volume, the whole body score and arthritis index score, and the joint swelling number in AA rats (F=20.573, 89.092, 14.161, 10.914, all P<0.01). hUC-MSCs reduced thymus index[(0.120±0.032), (0.120±0.031)] and spleen index[(0.250±0.070), (0.240±0.018)] (F=6.339, 4.105, all P<0.01), improved structural damage of ankle joint.hUC-MSCs could regulate the percentage of T cell subsets(CD4+ CD62L+ )[(7.0±1.4)%, (7.9±2.2)%], (CD4+ CD44+ )[(15.0±3.6)%, (12.0±1.9)%] in spleen (F=6.331, 12.719, all P<0.01), and down-regulate the levels of TNF-α [(172.0±13.0)ng/L, (150.0±12.0)ng/L] and IL-1β [(75.0±36.0)ng/L, (74.0±20.0)ng/L] in serum (F=8.221, 3.581, all P<0.05) of AA rats by tail vein injection.@*Conclusion@#hUC-MSCs can promote the treatment of AA rats by regulating the function of T cells.