The Journal of Neuroscience, 2011 · DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3566-10.2011 · Published: January 19, 2011
Spinal cord injuries are devastating, and axons often retract from the injury site due to inflammation, specifically macrophages. This study investigates whether multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs) can prevent this retraction and promote regrowth. The researchers found that MAPCs can decrease the release of MMP-9 from macrophages, preventing axonal dieback. MAPCs also shift macrophages from a pro-inflammatory state (M1) to an anti-inflammatory state (M2). In addition to affecting macrophages, MAPCs promote neurite outgrowth and sprouting, increasing the intrinsic growth capacity of neurons, enabling them to overcome inhibitory factors in their environment.
MAPCs could be a potential therapeutic agent for spinal cord injury due to their immunomodulatory and neurotrophic effects.
MAPCs can alter the inflammatory response to prevent deleterious secondary injury in the CNS by inhibiting macrophage secretion of MMP-9.
The ability of MAPCs to simultaneously target multiple mechanisms involved in regeneration failure suggests that cell therapy, particularly with MAPCs, can be a safe and effective treatment approach.