Effects of Noggin-Transfected Neural Stem Cells on Neural Functional Recovery and Underlying Mechanism in Rats with Cerebral Ischemia Reperfusion Injury

Objective To investigate neuroprotection of noggin-transfected neural stem cells (NSCs) against focal cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) in rats. Methods Eighty Wistar rats were randomly divided into the sham, IRI, NSCs, and noggin + NSCs groups. Noggin containing adenoviral vectors was transfected into rat NSCs. Rats were subjected to 2.0 hours middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion 1.0 hour, followed by infusion into the lateral ventricles of NSCs alone, noggin-transfected NSCs, and saline at 3 days in the NSCs, noggin + NSCs, and sham groups, respectively. All rats were sacrificed on 1, 3, 7, and 28 days after transplantation; the colorimetric method was used to detect the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content after the behavior capability determined. Western blot was performed for detecting the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) proteins. The TUNEL-positive and BrdU/nestin double-positive cells were observed under a light microscope and quantitative analysis was performed by morphometric technique. Results Noggin-transfected NSCs significantly decreased the infarct volume and improved the neurological scores. Noggin-transfected NSCs also reduced the percentage of apoptotic neurons and relieved neuronal morphological damage. Noggin-transfected NSC transplantation markedly decreased the MDA levels and increased the SOD activity, and simultaneously downregulated the BMP4 (bone morphogenesis protein), VEGF, and bFGF proteins. Conclusions The present study demonstrates that grafting NSCs modified by noggin gene provides better neuroprotection for cerebrovascular disease.