intravenous injection of human umbilical cord matrix stem cell (wharton jelly stem cell) provides functional recovery in a rat model of traumatic brain injury

objective: this study was designed to examine the effects of human umbilical cord matrix stemcell (hucmsc) administration in rats for 6 week after traumatic brain injury (tbi). materials and methods: adult male wistar rats (n = 30) were injured with controlled cortical impact device and divided into three groups. the treatment groups (n = 10 each) were injected with 2 × 106 (2 milion) intravenously, and whicle group (n = 10) received phosphate buffered saline (pbs). whereas the control group (n = 10) receive nothing all injections were performed 1 day after injury into the tail veins of rats. all cells label with brdu before injection into the tail veins of rats. neurological functional evaluation of animals was performed before and after injury using neurological severity scores (nss). animals were sacrificed 6 week after tbi and brain sections were stained by brdu immunohistochemistry. results: statistically significant improvement in functional outcome was observed in treatment groups when compared with control (p < 0.01). this benefit was visible 1 week after tbi and persisted until 6 week (end of trial).histological analysis showed that (hucmsc) were present in the lesion boundary zone at 6 week with all cell injected animal conclusion: hucmsc injected in rats after tbi survive until 6 week and provide functional benefit.