Functional recovery of chronic paraplegic pigs after autologous transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells

Background. Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) transplantation offers promise in the treatment of chronic paraplegia in rodents. Here, we report the effect of this cell therapy in adult pigs suffering chronic paraplegia. Methods. Three months after spinal cord injury, autologous BMSC in autologous plasma was injected into lesion zone and adjacent subarachnoid space in seven paraplegic pigs. On the contrary, three paraplegic pigs only received autologous plasma. Functional outcome was measured weekly until the end of the follow-up, 3 months later. Results. Our present study showed progressive functional recovery in transplanted pigs. At this time, intramedullary postraumatic cavities were filled by a neoformed tissue containing several axons, together with BMSC that expressed neuronal or glial markers. Furthermore, in the treated animals, electrophysiological studies showed recovery of the previously abolished somatosensory-evoked potentials. Conclusions. These findings confirm previous observations in rodents and Support the possible utility of BMSC transplantation in humans suffering chronic paraplegia.