Effects of Sca-1(+) bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on lung ischemia-reperfusion injury

This study aimed to explore the effect of Sca-1+ bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSCs) on lung ischemia reperfusion injury in mice. Five healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were selected to isolate and purify their Sca-1+ BMSCs using a Sca-1+ magnetic sorting kit in conjunction with whole bone marrow culture. In addition, 21 male C57BL/6J mice were divided into 3 groups (7 mice in each group), namely sham group (group A), I/R group (group B) and BMSCs group (group C). A pulmonary ischemia reperfusion injury model was established by ligating the left pulmonary portal vessel for 60 min and reperfusion for 240 min, after which the right pulmonary portal vessel was blocked to measure arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2). Subsequently, the mice were sacrificed to determine their superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) content and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in the lung tissue. The histological changes were observed by light microscopy, while an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the changes in plasma expressions of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the mice. In addition, plasma expressions of TNF-α and B-cell lymphoma-2 (bcl-2) in the mice were detected by immunohistochemistry, while the apoptosis of transplanted lung cells was detected by a TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) method. Compared with group A, group B showed a decreased level of PaO2 and SOD activity but an increased level of MDA content and MPO activity (P less than 0.01), indicating that group B had significant ischemia reperfusion injury compared to group A. In conclusion, BMSCs significantly reduced lung ischemia-reperfusion injury and improved lung function through their anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis properties.