The Study Of Implantation Of Neurotrophin-3 Modified Olfactory Ensheathing Glia In Regeneration Of Spinal Cord

Objective : Spinal Cord Injuries are a common clinical problem, which caused complete and incomplete paraplegia below injured level. OEG has bigeminal character of Schwann and Astrocytes showen by that it can cross the transition zone between PNS and CNS and enter into CNS from PNS, so it can compensate the defect of Schwann cells and fibroblasts because they are non-CNS origin and are limited in PNS. On one hand, OEG can pretect the regeneration of axon from the influence of inhibitors by the production of Chondroitinase and remeylinization for axons; on the other hand , OEG can product NTs such as NGF, BDNF, NT-3, NT-4 et al. So OEG may be better candidates for biobogical implantation, but the number of regenerating axoms distal from the injury site was still limited partly because of the limited neurotrophic factor expression and differences in the capacity of various axonal populations to regenerate through OEG implants have been reported. Neurotrophin-3 is one of the important factors in the regenerative milieu and plays variety of physiological effects on the development of nervous system. Many studies are focused on the usage of NT-3 to stimulate nerve regeneration, but the safe and efficient delivery of it to the site of injury is still problematic because of the short half-life and barrier between brain and vessel. Gene transfer technique provides a new strategy for the application of NT-3 and allows the insertion of NT-3 gene into OEG, which would then produce NT-3 continuously and exert the physiological action. The present study combines olfactory ensheathing glia (OEG) implantation with ex vivo non-viral vector-based neurotrophin-3(NT-3) gene therapy in an attempt to enhance regeneration after thoracic spinal cord injury.Methods: Primary OEG were transfected with cationic liposome-mediated...