AUTHOR=Yao Zong-Feng , Wang Ying , Lin Yu-Hong , Wu Yan , Zhu An-You , Wang Rui , Shen Lin , Xi Jin , Qi Qi , Jiang Zhi-Quan , Lü He-Zuo , Hu Jian-Guo TITLE=Transplantation of PDGF-AA-Overexpressing Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells Promotes Recovery in Rat Following Spinal Cord Injury JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience VOLUME=11 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2017.00079 DOI=10.3389/fncel.2017.00079 ISSN=1662-5102 ABSTRACT=

Our previous study showed that Schwann cells (SCs) promote survival, proliferation and migration of co-transplanted oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) and neurological recovery in rats with spinal cord injury (SCI). A subsequent in vitro study confirmed that SCs modulated OPC proliferation and migration by secreting platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-AA and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF)-2. We also found that PDGF-AA stimulated OPC proliferation and their differentiation into oligodendrocytes (OLs) at later stages. We therefore speculated that PDGF-AA administration can exert the same effect as SC co-transplantation in SCI repair. To test this hypothesis, in this study we investigated the effect of transplanting PDGF-AA-overexpressing OPCs in a rat model of SCI. We found that PDGF-AA overexpression in OPCs promoted their survival, proliferation, and migration and differentiation into OLs in vivo. OPCs overexpressing PDGF-AA were also associated with increased myelination and tissue repair after SCI, leading to the recovery of neurological function. These results indicate that PDGF-AA-overexpressing OPCs may be an effective treatment for SCI.