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Therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells on erectile function in rats with cavernous nerve injury

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (hUCBMSCs) on promoting erectile function in a rat model of bilateral cavernous nerve (CN) crush injury.

Results

Fifty male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly assigned to sham + PBS group (n = 10), BCNI (bilateral cavernous nerve crush injury) + PBS group (n = 10), BCNI + hUCBMSCs group (n = 30). At day 28 (n = 10) post-surgery, erectile function was examined and histological specimens were harvested. Compared with BCNI + PBS group, hUCBMSC intracavernous injection treatment significantly increased the mean ratio of ICP/MAP, nNOS-positive nerve fibers in the dorsal penile nerve, smooth muscle content, and smooth muscle to collagen ratio in the corpus cavernousum. Electron microscopy revealed few CN and major pelvic ganglion (MPG) lesions in the BCNI + hUCBMSCs group. Injected hUCBMSCs were localized to the sinusoid endothelium of the penis and MPG on day 1, 3, 7, and 28 post-intracavernous injection.

Conclusion

hUCBMSCs intracavernous injection treatment improves erectile function by inhibiting corpus cavernosum fibrosis and exerting neuroregenerative effects on cell bodies of injured nerves at MPG in a BCNI rat model.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor Sheng-Ming Zhang, Department of Histology and Embryology at Weifang Medical College, for electron microscopy assistance. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30901489); Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Scholars, Ministry of Education of China (2014); Shanghai Jiaotong University Biomedical Engineering Cross Research Foundation (YG2014MS15); Shandong Science and Technology Development Plan (2011GGH21813) and Shanghai Jiaotong University Morningstar Scholars Program (2012).

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All authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Correspondence to Lu-Jie Song.

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Zhu, JQ., Lu, HK., Cui, ZQ. et al. Therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells on erectile function in rats with cavernous nerve injury. Biotechnol Lett 37, 1515–1525 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-015-1816-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-015-1816-2

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