Does vitamin C have the ability to augment the therapeutic effect of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells on spinal cord injury?

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) often affect young individuals, create financial burden, and can result from motor vehicle crashes and violence. The injury occurs in two phases, mechanical damage (primary) and subsequent complications (secondary). Current therapies are often unsatisfactory. This study evaluates the therapeutic effects of methylprednisolone (MP), vitamin C (VC), and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) on traumatic SCI in rats. These treatments were tested alone and in combination to assess their impact on nerve function, cell damage, and gene expression. The study found that BMMSCs, especially when combined with VC, significantly improved nerve function recovery, reduced nerve cell damage, and decreased expression of certain genes associated with inflammation and fibrosis compared to MP or VC alone.

• 1
  BMMSCs intervention better promoted recovery of nerve function of rats with SCI, mitigated nerve cell damage, and decreased expression of transforming growth factor-beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and matrix metalloproteinase-2 genes than MP and/or VC.
• 2
  More importantly, BMMSCs in combination with VC induced more obvious improvements.
• 3
  These results suggest that VC can enhance the neuroprotective effects of BMMSCs against SCI.