Adipose-derived Stem Cell Conditioned Media Extends Survival time of a mouse model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Sci Rep. 2015 Nov 20:5:16953. doi: 10.1038/srep16953.

Abstract

Adipose stromal cells (ASC) secrete various trophic factors that assist in the protection of neurons in a variety of neuronal death models. In this study, we tested the effects of human ASC conditional medium (ASC-CM) in human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) transgenic mouse model expressing mutant superoxide dismutase (SOD1(G93A)). Treating symptomatic SOD1(G93A) mice with ASC-CM significantly increased post-onset survival time and lifespan. Moreover, SOD1(G93A) mice given ASC-CM treatment showed high motor neuron counts, less activation of microglia and astrocytes at an early symptomatic stage in the spinal cords under immunohistochemical analysis. SOD1(G93A) mice treated with ASC-CM for 7 days showed reduced levels of phosphorylated p38 (pp38) in the spinal cord, a mitogen-activated protein kinase that is involved in both inflammation and neuronal death. Additionally, the levels of α-II spectrin in spinal cords were also inhibited in SOD1(G93A) mice treated with ASC-CM for 3 days. Interestingly, nerve growth factor (NGF), a neurotrophic factor found in ASC-CM, played a significant role in the protection of neurodegeneration inSOD1(G93A) mouse. These results indicate that ASC-CM has the potential to develop into a novel and effective therapeutic treatment for ALS.

MeSH terms

  • Adipose Tissue / cytology*
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / drug therapy*
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / genetics
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / pathology
  • Animals
  • Astrocytes / metabolism
  • Astrocytes / pathology
  • Blotting, Western
  • CD11b Antigen / metabolism
  • Culture Media, Conditioned / pharmacology*
  • Disease Models, Animal*
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Microglia / metabolism
  • Microglia / pathology
  • Motor Neurons / metabolism
  • Motor Neurons / pathology
  • Phosphorylation / drug effects
  • Point Mutation
  • Spectrin / metabolism
  • Spinal Cord / drug effects
  • Spinal Cord / metabolism
  • Spinal Cord / pathology
  • Stem Cells / physiology*
  • Superoxide Dismutase / genetics
  • Superoxide Dismutase / metabolism
  • Survival Analysis
  • Time Factors
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / metabolism

Substances

  • CD11b Antigen
  • Culture Media, Conditioned
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
  • Spectrin
  • SOD1 G93A protein
  • Superoxide Dismutase
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases