Mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of spinal cord injuries: A review

Table 5 Overview of effects of umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells after spinal cord injury

Source of MSC	Main pathological features improved/repaired	Limitations/recommendations/conclusions	Ref.
Human	Stem cells migrated to injured areas, functional recovery	hUCB may be a viable source of stem cells for treatment of neurological disorders	Saporta et al[69], 2003
	Axonal regeneration, functional recovery	HUCBs and BDNF reduced the neurological function deficit to a moderate degree for SCI rats	Kuh et al[70], 2005
	Stem cells secrete neurotrophic hormones and remyelinating proteins, axonal remyelination	Studies on long-term survival of hUCBSC and remyelination are recommended.	Dasari et al[71], 2007
	Repair and maintenance of structural integrity of the injured spinal cord, downregulation of apoptosis, functional recovery	Role of hUCBSC in maintaining structural integrity and thereby promoting the long-term survival of neurons and oligodendrocytes in the injured spinal cord	Dasari et al[72], 2008
	Downregulation of neuronal apoptosis	Modulation of the micro environment of the injured spinal cord by application of hUCBSC might be a potential therapeutic modality	Dasari et al[75], 2009
	Downregulation of elevated tPA activity/expression in SCI rats	tPA is involved in secondary pathogenesis following spinal cord injury	Veeravalli et al[76] 2009
	Upregulation of MMP2, reduction of glial scar	hUCBSC treatment after SCI upregulates MMP-2 levels and reduces the formation of the glial scar	Veeravalli et al[77], 2009
	GDNF and VEGF were secreted in the injured spinal cord after transplantation of CD34+ cells	CD34+ cell therapy may be beneficial in reversing the SCI-induced spinal cord infarction and apoptosis and hindlimb dysfunction	Kao et al[78], 2008
	Serum IL-10 levels increased, TNF-α levels decreased, functional recovery	Recovery of SCI-induced hind limb dysfunction is by increasing serum levels of IL-10, VEGF and GDNF in SCI rats.	Chen et al[79] 2008
	Infarct size and blood vessel density at the injured site were significantly different in the treated group, functional recovery	Transplantation of CD34(+) HUCBCs during acute phase could promote functional recovery better than during subacute phase after SCI by raising blood vessel density	Ning et al[80], 2013

MSC: Mesenchymal stem cell; SCI: Spinal cord injury; IL: Interleukin; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α; hUCB: Human umbilical cord blood; hUCBSC: Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell.