Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine

Human umbilical cord blood (UCB) cells and rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) have many advantages. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of human UCB cells and rat BM-MSCs on reversal of diabetes in a rat model of streptozotocin-induced diabetes and on the recovery of pancreatic β-cells in rats with type 1 diabetes

 

Method: Human CD34＋ stem cells were isolated with magnetic cell sorting (MACS). Rat BM-MSCs were isolated, cultured and propagated. 40 rats were divided into 4 groups; group 1 (control group), group 2 (streptozotocin group DM): rats were injected with a intraperitoneally into on 3 consecutive days to induce type 1 DM(30 mg/kg of STZ solution in acidified 0.9% saline; group 3 (DM/CD34＋group): STZ induced type 1 DM in rats and injected with human undifferentiated cells(UBCs) (107, intravenously), and group 4 (DM/BM-MSCs group): STZ induced type 1 DM in rats and injected with bone marrow undifferentiated cells(BM-MSCs) 

 

Sampling: Blood samples were driven from rats at 4, 8 and 12 weeks to measure serum level of fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum creatinine, insulin, urea and 24hr urine . Quantitative expression of Insulin like growth factor –I (IGF-I) ,(IGF-II), collagen Iα, MMP-2, MMP-9 and TNF-α were measured by RT-PCR

 

Results: Stem cells administration recovered pancreatic function that confirmed by histopathological examination of the pancreatic tissue. GFP labeled cells were detected in groups injected with stem cells. Concernine gene expression, stem cells administration reduced gene expressions of all genes with lower expression in the DM/CD34+ group compared to higher expression in the DM/BM-MSCs group.

 

Conclusion: Human UCB CD34＋ stem cells were more effective in alleviation of streptozotocin-induced DM in rat than BM-MSCs.This study highlited an important role of human UCB CD34 ＋stem cells in Diabetes mellitus therapy.