Effects of bone marrow stromal cell-conditioned medium on primary cultures of peripheral nerve tissues and cells

Implantation of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) produces an improved functional outcome of peripheral nerve repair. In this study, rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explants, rat DRG neurons, and rat Schwann cells (SCs) were treated with monkey MSC-conditioned medium, respectively, and then subjected to MTT assay, Bromodeoxyuridine/Hoechst 33342 double staining, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, real-time quantitative PCR, and Western blot analysis, respectively. The results showed that MSC-conditioned medium enhanced axon growth and neurogenesis in cultured DRG explants, augmented cell survival of and expression of NF and GAP-43 by cultured DRG neurons, promoted cell survival and proliferation of cultured SCs, and increased the expression of NGF, BDNF, and bFGF in cultured SCs. We also found that mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) 1/2 pathway was involved in the enhanced cell proliferation of SCs evoked by MSC-conditioned medium. The data of this study might help the understanding of MSCs-based treatment for peripheral nerve repair.