Increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in rats with spinal cord injury by transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells

Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a well known angiogenic factor, has been shown to have direct and/or indirect influence on spinal cord injury (SCI). The purpose of this study is to observe VEGF expression changes in rats with SCI by bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) treatment. The mRNA expression of VEGF in rats was analyzed by semi-quantitative RT- PCR and the protein expression level was quantified by means of western blot and immunohistochemistry technology. It was found that VEGF was significantly up-regulated in BMSCs treatment group in comparison to the sham group and DMEM group on mRNA level. On protein level, VEGF was also highly increased in BMSCs treatment group, which reached the highest level after 14 days treatment. The present study suggests a potential local role for VEGF as mediators of SCI which might provide a certain reasonable clue to clarify molecular mechanisms of BMSCs treatment in SCI.

Key words: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), spinal cord injury, bone marrow stromal cells, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot, immunohistochemistry.