Effect of Implantation of a Fibrin Matrix Associated with Neonatal Brain Cells on the Course of an Experimental Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Abstract—The effect of immediate implantation of a fibrin matrix associated with allogeneic neonatal rat brain cells on their motor function recovery after a spinal cord injury (SCI) was studied. The cohorts of animals selected for the study were represented by white adult outbred rats (approximately 260 g each, 4 or 5 months old). The SCI simulation was based on a unilateral left-side incision of the spinal cord at the level of approximately T13–L1 segments. The rehabilitation treatment included immediate transplantation of a human fibrin matrix associated with neonatal rat brain cells (NBCs) (n = 9) into the injury area. The reference groups were represented by animals with isolated traumatic (Tr) SCIs (n = 7) and those with implantation of a human acellular fibrin (Fb) matrix (n = 6) into the injury area. The motor activity was assessed in the paretic hindlimb on the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scale; spasticity was evaluated on the Ashworth scale; and the pathohistological examination of longitudinal spinal cord sections sampled in the remote posttraumatic period was performed using the silver impregnation staining method. The fibrin matrix promotes viability, growth, and differentiation in the incorporated neonatal rat brain cells. Starting from the second or third week after the implantation into the injury epicenter, the motor function in the paretic limb corresponded to approximately 11 points in the Fb and NBC groups and to approximately six points in the Tr group on the BBB locomotor scale. No significant differences in the locomotor function of the paretic limb were recorded throughout the entire experiment between the NBC and Fb groups nor between the Fb and Tr groups. Significant differences between the NBC and Tr groups were recorded from the second, fourth, and eighth week, as well as the third and fifth months, post injury. A significant prevalence in the level of spasticity in the Tr group over the NBC and Fb groups was recorded, respectively, from the sixth and the seventh week after the injury. An immediate implantation of the fibrin matrix in complex with allogeneic neonatal brain cells or without the latter causes a significant positive effect on the motor function recovery after a lacerative SCI.