Table 1.
Summary of pre-clinical studies using mesenchymal stem cell for spinal cord injury
| Animal | Lesion type | Cells source | Route of administration | Effects on CNS regeneration | Ref. |
| Rat | Contusion | Human mesenchymal precursor cells | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery and tissue sparing and reduction of cyst volume | [35] |
| Rat | Contusion | Human bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site , intracisternal, intravenous | Improvement in functional recovery | [36] |
| Rat | Hemisection | Bone marrow-MSC induced into Schwann Cells | Lesion site | Improvement in locomotor and sensory scores, axonal regeneration and remyelination | [37] |
| Rat | Contusion | Bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site , intravenous | Improvement in locomotor scores and NGF expression | [38-40] |
| Rat | Transection to the dorsal columns and tracts | Bone marrow-MSC, adipose derived-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in locomotor scores, increased angiogenesis, preserved axons, decreased numbers of ED1-positive macrophages and reduced lesion cavity formation | [41] |
| Rat | Hemisection | Human umbilical cord-derived MSC | Lesion site | Suppress mechanical allodynia, and this effect seems to be closely associated with the modulation of spinal cord microglia activity and NR1 phosphorylation | [42,43] |
| Rat | Hemisection | Human bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in locomotor scores, shorter latency of somatosensory-evoked potentials and differentiation into various cells types | [44] |
| Rat | Hemisection | Bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in locomotor scores and reduced lesion cavity formation | [45] |
| Mouse | Compression | Bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in locomotor and sensory scores and reduced lesion volume | [46] |
| Rat | Contusion | Human bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, tissue sparing and reduction in the volume of lesion cavity and in the white matter loss | [35,47-49] |
| Rat | Contusion | Human umbilical cord-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, reduction of the extent of astrocytic activation and increased axonal preservation | [50] |
| Dog | Compression | Bone marrow, adipose, Wharton’s jelly, umbilical cord derived-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, increased numbers of surviving neurons, smaller lesion sizes and fewer microglia and reactive astrocytes in the epicenter of lesion | [51] |
| Rat | Compression | Bone marrow-MSC | Intravenous | Improvement in functional recovery, increase of NGF expression, higher tissue sparing and density of blood vessels | [52] |
| Rat | Contusion | Human umbilical cord-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, endogenous cell proliferation and oligogenesis, and smaller cavity volume | [53,54] |
| Rat | Transection | Human-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, increased amplitude of motor-evoked potentials, differentiation into neural cells | [55,56] |
| Rat | Contusion | Bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, preservation of axons, less scar tissue formation and increase in myelin sparing; higher levels of IL-4 and IL-3 and higher numbers of M2 macrophages, and reduction in TNF-α and IL-6 levels, and in numbers of M1 macrophages | [57-60] |
| Dog | Compression | Neural-induced adipose derived-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery and neuronal regeneration, and reduction of fibrosis | [61] |
| Mouse | Transection | Bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery and neuronal survival, reduction of cavity volume and attenuation of inflammation, promotion of angiogenesis and reduction of cavity formation | [62-64] |
| Rat | Compression | Bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, up-regulation of VEGF mRNA expression, increase in angiogenesis and prevention of tissue atrophy | [65-67] |
| Rat | Compression | Human umbilical cord-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, increase in the intensity of 5-HT fibers and in the volume of spared myelination; decrease in the area of the cystic cavity | [68] |
| Dog | Compression | Umbilical cord-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery, promotion of neuronal regeneration and reduction of fibrosis | [69] |
| Dog | Compression | Human umbilical cord-MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery and remyelination | [70] |
| Rat | Contusion | Bone marrow-MSC | Intrathecal | Improvement in functional recovery | [71] |
| Rat | Contusion | Human bone marrow-MSC | Lesion site , lumbar puncture | Improvement in functional and sensory recovery | [72] |
| Rat | Contusion | Neural differentiated and undifferentiated MSC | Lesion site | Improvement in functional recovery and reduction of cavitation | [73] |
CNS: Central nervous system; MSC: Mesenchymal stem cell; TNF: Tumor necrosis factor; IL: Interleukin; NGF: Nerve growth factor; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor.