Protective effects of human umbilical cord blood stem cell intravitreal transplantation against optic nerve injury in rats

Background The majority of studies addressing traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) have focused on drugs, proteins, cytokines, and various surgical techniques. A recent study reported that transplantation of human umbilical cord blood stem cells (hUCBSCs) achieved therapeutic effects on TON, but the exact effects on optic nerve injury are still unknown, and the mechanisms underlying nerve protection remain poorly understood. Methods A total of 135 healthy Sprague–Dawley adult rats were randomly assigned to three groups: sham-surgery, model and transplantation, with 45 rats in each group. TON was induced in the model and transplantation groups via optic nerve crush injury. The crush injury was not performed in the sham-surgery group. Seven days after the injury, 106 hUCBSCs were injected into the rat vitreous cavity of transplantation group, and an equal volume of physiological saline was administered to the model and sham-surgery groups. Pathological observation of rat retina tissues was performed by hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) staining at days 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 post-surgery. The number of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and mRNA expression levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) were assessed by the Fluorogold (FG) retrograde labeling and reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) methods, respectively. Results The number of labeled RGCs and the expression of BDNF and GDNF mRNA obviously increased, and pathological injury was significantly ameliorated in the transplantation group compared to the model group (P<0.05). Conclusions Via intravitreal transplantation, the hUCBSCs resulted in a significant increase in the survival of the RGCs, and improved pathological changes in the rat retina, following TON. The protective mechanism is correlated with the continuous secretion of BDNF and GDNF in vivo of retina in optic nerve injury rats by the transplanted hUCBSCs.