Rat hair follicle stem cells differentiate and promote recovery following spinal cord injury

Emerging studies of treating spinal cord injury (SCI) with adult stem cells led us to evaluate the effects
of transplantation of hair follicle stem cells in rats with a compression-induced spinal cord lesion. Here,
we proposed a hypothesis that rat hair follicle stem cell transplantation can promote the recovery of
injured spinal cord. Compression-induced spinal cord injury was induced in Wistar rats in this study.
The bulge area of the rat vibrissa follicles was isolated, cultivated and characterized with nestin as a
stem cell marker. 5-Bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeled bulge stem cells were transplanted into rats
with spinal cord injury. Immunohistochemical staining results showed that some of the grafted cells
could survive and differentiate into oligodendrocytes (receptor-interacting protein positive cells) and
neuronal-like cells (βIII-tubulin positive cells) at 3 weeks after transplantation. In addition, recovery of
hind limb locomotor function in spinal cord injury rats at 8 weeks following cell transplantation was
assessed using the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale. The results demonstrate
that the grafted hair follicle stem cells can survive for a long time period in vivo and differentiate
into neuronal- and glial-like cells. These results suggest that hair follicle stem cells can promote the
recovery of spinal cord injury