The Impact of Tissue Storage Conditions on Rat Olfactory Ensheathing Cell Yield and the Future Clinical Implications

Trauma to the spinal cord often results in the failure of damaged central nervous system axons to regenerate. Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are a unique type of glial cell with the ability to promote regeneration of these axons, potentially aiding recovery after spinal cord injury. Transplanting OECs, particularly from the olfactory bulb (OB), is viewed as a promising therapeutic approach for repairing injuries to the central nervous system, including spinal cord injuries. This transplantation can be either autologous (using the patient's own cells) or allogeneic (using donor cells). This study examined the impact of storing olfactory bulb tissue in different media for 24 and 48 hours on the yield and proportions of OECs and olfactory nerve fibroblasts. The duration of tissue storage before cell culturing can affect the success of OEC transplantation by influencing the cell yield.

• 1
  Storing olfactory bulb tissue for more than 24 hours negatively impacts the total cell number and the OEC population. Specifically, storing OBs rather than immediate culture (0 hour) causes a loss to the cell population.
• 2
  HBSS, DMEM, and DMEMF at 24 hours showed no significant loss in average cell number, but at 48 hours, the average cell number fell significantly for all media. At 48 hours, all storages in any media showed a considerable loss in cell numbers compared with 0 hour.
• 3
  The morphology of OECs and ONFs is affected differently by the time and the storage media. The ONF population overall is more robust than that of the OEC population also showing less morphological variation than that of the OEC population.