Volume 10, Issue 6 (November & December 2019)                   BCN 2019, 10(6): 567-578 | Back to browse issues page


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1- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
2- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
3- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
4- Department of Tissue Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
5- Neurophysiology Research Center, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
6- Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:  
Introduction: Trimethyltin Chloride (TMT) is a neurotoxin that can kill neurons in the nervous system and activate astrocytes. This neurotoxin mainly damages the hippocampal neurons. After TMT injection, behavioral changes such as aggression and hyperactivity have been reported in animals along with impaired spatial and learning memory. Hence, TMT is a suitable tool for an experimental model of neurodegeneration. The present study aims to determine the palliative effects of Bone Marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BM-MSCs) on the hippocampi of rats damaged from TMT exposure.
Methods: We assigned 28 male Wistar rats to the following groups: control, model, vehicle, and treatment. The groups received Intraperitoneal (IP) injections of 8 mg/kg TMT. After one week, stem cells were stereotactically injected into the CA1 of the right rats’ hippocampi. Spatial memory was determined by the Morris Water Maze (MWM) test 6 weeks after cell transplantation. Finally, the rats’ brains were perfused and stained by cresyl violet to determine the numbers of cells in the Cornus Ammonis (CA1) section of the hippocampus. We assessed the expressions of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and Neuronal-specific Nuclear (NeuN) proteins in the right hippocampus by Western blot.
Results: The MWM test showed that the treatment group had significantly higher traveled distances in the target quarter compared with the model and vehicle groups (P<0.05). Based on the result of cell count (Nissl staining), the number of cells increased in the treatment group compared with the model and vehicle groups (P<0.05). Western blot results showed up-regulation of GFAP and NeuN proteins in the model, vehicle, and treatment groups compared with the control group. 
Conclusion: Injection of BM-MSCs may lead to a behavioral and histological improvement in TMT-induced neurotoxicity by increasing the number of pyramidal neurons and improving memory.
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Type of Study: Original | Subject: Behavioral Neuroscience
Received: 2018/04/29 | Accepted: 2019/01/8 | Published: 2019/11/1

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