Ibuprofen attenuates the inflammatory response and allows formation of migratory neuroblasts from grafted stem cells after traumatic brain injury

Purpose: There is hope for neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPC) to enhance regeneration when transplanted to the injured brain after traumatic brain injury (TBI). So far, the therapeutic effects of NSPC transplantation have been hampered mainly by the notable death of the transplanted cells. Neuroinflammation may lead to additional cell death after TBI and we hypothesized that survival of grafted NSPC could be enhanced by anti-inflammatory treatment. Methods: Mice that were subjected to controlled cortical impact TBI and grafted with NSPC, were treated with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen. Results: Ibuprofen was found to down-regulate the TBI-induced inflammatory response. In addition, migrating neuroblasts from transplanted cells were observed near the contusion and in the ipsilateral hippocampus in ibuprofen-treated animals only, suggesting that the anti-inflammatory treatment had beneficial effects on graft survival and/or differentiation. However, Morris Water Maze performance or TBI-induced tissue loss was not influenced by ibuprofen treatment. Conclusions: Our data suggests that anti-inflammatory strategies may be a complement to enhance the outcome for the cell transplants following TBI.