Oligodendrocyte precursor cell transplantation promotes functional recovery following contusive spinal cord injury in rats and is associated with altered microRNA expression

Yang,Jin; Xiong,Liu‑Lin; Wang,You‑Cui; He,Xiang; Jiang,Ling; Fu,Song‑Jun; Han,Xue‑Fei; Liu,Jia; Wang,Ting‑Hua

doi:10.3892/mmr.2017.7957

Oligodendrocyte precursor cell transplantation promotes functional recovery following contusive spinal cord injury in rats and is associated with altered microRNA expression

Authors:
- Jin Yang
- Liu‑Lin Xiong
- You‑Cui Wang
- Xiang He
- Ling Jiang
- Song‑Jun Fu
- Xue‑Fei Han
- Jia Liu
- Ting‑Hua Wang
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Affiliations: Institute of Neuroscience, College of Basic Medicine, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, P.R. China, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China, Institute of Neurobiological Disease, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China, Experimental Animal Center, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, P.R. China
Published online on: November 3, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2017.7957
Pages: 771-782
Copyright: © Yang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

It has been reported that oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) may be used to treat contusive spinal cord injury (SCC), and may alter microRNA (miRNA/miR) expression following SCC in rats. However, the association between miRNA expression and the treatment of rats with SCC with OPC transplantation remain unclear. The present study transplanted OPCs into the spinal cord of rats with SCC and subsequently used the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) score to assess the functional recovery and pain scores. An miRNA assay was performed to detect differentially expressed miRNAs in the spinal cord of SCC rats transplanted with OPCs, compared with SCC rats transplanted with medium. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to verify significantly altered miRNA expression levels. The results demonstrated that OPC transplantation was able to improve motor recovery and relieve mechanical allodynia in rats with SCC. In addition, through a miRNA assay, 45 differentially expressed miRNAs (40 upregulated miRNAs and 5 downregulated miRNAs) were detected in the spinal cord of rats in the OPC group compared with in the Medium group. Differentially expressed miRNAs were identified according to the following criteria: Fold change >2 and P<0.05. Furthermore, quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to verify the most highly upregulated (miR‑375‑3p and miR‑1‑3p) and downregulated (miR‑363‑3p, miR‑449a‑5p and miR‑3074) spinal cord miRNAs that were identified in the miRNA assay. In addition, a bioinformatics analysis of these miRNAs indicated that miR‑375 and miR‑1 may act primarily to inhibit cell proliferation and apoptosis via transcriptional and translational regulation, whereas miR‑363, miR‑449a and miR‑3074 may act primarily to inhibit cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation through transcriptional regulation. These results suggested that OPC transplantation may promote functional recovery of rats with SCC, which may be associated with the expression of various miRNAs in the spinal cord, including miR‑375‑3p, miR‑1‑3p, miR‑363‑3p, miR‑449a‑5p and miR‑3074.

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