| Purpose: Spinal cord injury(SCI)are among the most frequent causes of central nervous system(CNS)dysfunction,affecting millions of people worldwide each year.The personal and financial costs for affected individuals,their families,and the broader communities are enormous.SCI is associated with a dismal prognosis including severe voluntary motor and sensory deficits in the presence of the current therapies,thus new and efficient treatment strategies are desperately required.Oscillating field stimulation(OFS)is an emerging technology that has been used to treat SCI with promising therapeutic effects.The application of electric current to the injured spinal cord is known to promote healing and tissue regeneration.However,the mechanisms by which OFS leads to SCI recovery are not yet fully understood.OFS has been shown to regulate the Wnt signaling pathway,a known modulator of neural stem cell(NSC)differentiation,but the effects of OFS on NSC differentiation following SCI and associated functional recovery have not been examined.The purpose of this study was to investigate whether OFS can regulate the differentiation of endogenous NSCs to repair SCI.Methods: Adult SD female rats were randomly divided into treatment group(treatment with OFS),SCI group and sham operation group.The model of thoracic(T9-T11)SCI was established and the OFS device was implanted into the injured site.Regeneration of neurons and axons was examined by immunofluorescence staining and Western Blot.Basso Bettie Bresnahan(BBB)score is used to evaluate the recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury in rats.Regeneration of neurons,oligodendrocytes and astrocytes derived from NSCs was examined by immunofluorescence double-staining.Further,recovery of the myelin sheath was examined by uranium–lead staining under transmission electron microscopy.Results:(1)The results of BBB score showed that the BBB scores in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the SCI group after 21 days of operation(P< 0.05);(2)The results of immunofluorescence staining and Western blot showed that the expression of neuron and axon markers in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the SCI group(P < 0.05);(3)The results of immunofluorescence double-staining showed that OFS could effectively promote the differentiation of endogenous NSCs into neurons and oligodendrocytes,and inhibit their differentiation into astrocytes,and the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05);(4)The morphology of myelin sheath was observed under electron microscope.Compared with the SCI group,the myelin sheath of the treatment group increased significantly and thickened,and the structure was complete,the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05).Conclusions: These findings suggest that OFS can promote neurological recovery by regulating the proliferation and differentiation of endogenous NSCs after SCI in rats. |
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