1. Antiepileptic and neuroprotective effects of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells in a pilocarpine-induced epilepsy model
- Author
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Bruno Solano de Freitas Souza, Andresa Forte, Zaquer Suzana Munhoz Costa-Ferro, Telma Ingrid Borges de Bellis Kühn, Fernanda de Borba Cunha, Marcos Maurício Tosta Leal, Adelson Alves da Silva, Eliseo Joji Sekiya, Ricardo Ribeiro dos Santos, and Milena Botelho Pereira Soares
- Subjects
business.industry ,Brief Report ,Dentate gyrus ,Clinical Biochemistry ,Biomedical Engineering ,Bioengineering ,Cell Biology ,Status epilepticus ,Brain damage ,Pharmacology ,medicine.disease ,Neuroprotection ,Transplantation ,Epilepsy ,nervous system ,Pilocarpine ,Cord blood ,medicine ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Biotechnology ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Status epilepticus (SE) is a condition of persistent seizure that leads to brain damage and, frequently, to the establishment of chronic epilepsy. Cord blood is an important source of adult stem cells for the treatment of neurological disorders. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (HUCBC) transplanted into rats after induction of SE by the administration of lithium and pilocarpine chloride. Transplantation of HUCBC into epileptic rats protected against neuronal loss in the hippocampal subfields CA1, CA3 and in the hilus of the dentate gyrus, up to 300 days after SE induction. Moreover, transplanted rats had reduced frequency and duration of spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS) 15, 120 and 300 days after the SE. Our study shows that HUCBC provide prominent antiepileptic and neuroprotective effects in the experimental model of epilepsy and reinforces that early interventions can protect the brain against the establishment of epilepsy.
- Published
- 2013