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. 2016 Apr;11(4):652-6.
doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.180753.

Human umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells and brain-derived neurotrophic factor protect injured optic nerve: viscoelasticity characterization

Xue-Man Lv  1 , Yan Liu  2 , Fei Wu  3 , Yi Yuan  1 , Min Luo  4
Affiliations

Human umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells and brain-derived neurotrophic factor protect injured optic nerve: viscoelasticity characterization

Xue-Man Lv et al. Neural Regen Res. 2016 Apr.

Abstract

The optic nerve is a viscoelastic solid-like biomaterial. Its normal stress relaxation and creep properties enable the nerve to resist constant strain and protect it from injury. We hypothesized that stress relaxation and creep properties of the optic nerve change after injury. More-over, human brain-derived neurotrophic factor or umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells may restore these changes to normal. To validate this hypothesis, a rabbit model of optic nerve injury was established using a clamp approach. At 7 days after injury, the vitreous body re-ceived a one-time injection of 50 μg human brain-derived neurotrophic factor or 1 × 10(6) human umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells. At 30 days after injury, stress relaxation and creep properties of the optic nerve that received treatment had recovered greatly, with patho-logical changes in the injured optic nerve also noticeably improved. These results suggest that human brain-derived neurotrophic factor or umbilical cord blood-derived stem cell intervention promotes viscoelasticity recovery of injured optic nerves, and thereby contributes to nerve recovery.

Keywords: brain-derived neurotrophic factors; creep; histomorphology; human umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; optic nerve injury; stress relaxation; viscoelasticity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of human brain-derived neurotrophic factor (hBDNF) and umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells (hUCBSC) on pathological morphology of injured optic nerve (optical microscope, hematoxylin-eosin staining, × 400). (A) In the control group, optic nerve fibers (arrows) were densely arranged and parallel to each other. (B) In the hUCBSC group, optic nerve fiber structure was absent with a few optic nerve fibers poorly arranged, but obviously thinned optic nerves were not observed. Arrows point to injured optic nerve fibers. (C) In the hBDNF group, some optic nerve fibers were irregularly arranged, but optic nerve fiber structure was present and glial cell nuclei increased in number with a small number of nuclei dissolved (arrows). In the model group, optic nerve fiber structure disappeared, nerve fibers and glial cells degenerated, and necrotic and deliquescent nuclei were occasionally observed (arrows).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of human brain-derived neurotrophic factor (hBDNF) and umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells (hUCBSC) on stress-relaxation curves in rabbits with optic nerve injury. Experimental curves are blue and theoretical curves are green.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of human brain-derived neurotrophic factor (hBDNF) and umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells (hUCBSC) on stress-relaxation curves (G) of injured rabbit optic nerves. Experimental curves are blue and theoretical curves are green.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of human brain-derived neurotrophic factor (hBDNF) and umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells (hUCBSC) on creep curves of injured rabbit optic nerve. Experimental curves are blue and theoretical curves are green.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effects of human brain-derived neurotrophic factor (hBDNF) and umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells (hUCBSC) on normalized creep function curves (J) of injured rabbit optic nerve. Experimental curves are blue and theoretical curves are green.
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