Issue 01, Vol 01,

10th June, 2010

QUARTESIAN NEWS LETTER

Aim to provide interesting article on current area of research to scientific fellows
of the industry

MENSTRUAL BLOOD – A RAY OF HOPE IN

STROKE
Thanks to Borlangan et al., for reporting their
research findings on this topic. The researchers
claimed that menstrual blood may be an important
source of autologous stem cells and these cells
exemplify a source of "individually tailored" donor
cells that completely match the transplant recipient,
at least in women. Transplantation of MenSCs
(menstrual blood derived stem cells), either directly
into the brain or peripherally, had a protective
effect on brain cells, preventing further cell death
and potentially reversed the neural trauma
experienced during a stroke. Moreover they also
significantly ameliorated stroke-induced behavioral
and histological deficits. These robust effects of
MenSCs make them alluring for early cell therapy
in stroke......

The key notes extracted from the original paper

with authors comments is presented in this news
article for the benefit of our industry colleagues.
Hope this information is useful and fuel further
research in this area…

Send your queries to

Shiva.murthy@quartesian.com
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SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH WORK ….
• The menstrual blood cells collected via
a procurement kit approved under an
IRB (Independent Review Board) study
for the collection, processing,
cryopreservation, and post-thaw
viability of the harvested cells and
subjected to a series of planned invitro
and invivo studies by the Researchers.
• Primary cultures of neurons derived
from the (Sprague-Dawley) rat striatum
was used for invitro studies.
• Immunocytochemical assays of cultured
menstrual blood revealed that they
expressed embryonic-like stem cell
phenotypic markers (Oct4, SSEA,
Nanog).
• Researchers reported that OGD-exposed
primary rat neurons that were co-
cultured with MenSCs or exposed to the
media collected from cultured MenSCs
blood exhibited significantly reduced
cell death.
• The assay data of ELISA showed that
the Trophic factors, such as VEGF,
BDNF, and NT-3, were up-regulated in
the media of OGD-exposed cultured
MenSCs.
• Results were very encouraging and
showed that after transplanting MenSCs
either intracerebrally (IC) or
intravenously (IV) in experimentally
induced ischemic stroke in adult rats
significantly reduced behavioral
impairments including motor
asymmetry, motor coordination, and
neurological performance, compared to
vehicle-infused rats.
• The other invivo studies involved
grafting procedures, behavioural tests,
immunohistochemistry and
morphological analysis.
• Histological and immunohistochemical
examination and DAPI staining shown
to suggest that there were more
surviving host cells in the striatal
ischemic penumbra of stroke animals
that received either IC and IV
transplantation of MenSCs compared to
those that received IC or IV vehicle
infusion (*P < 0.0001).
• An important safety finding from this
study was that there was no instance of
complications or negative effects such
as detectable tumour, ectopic formation
or overt graft-versus-host in any of the
transplanted animals.
• Researchers opine that long-term
monitoring of graft maturation will
further reveal the safety profile of
MenSCs in the stroke brain.
• Data from this study serves as a ray of
hope opening up avenues for a
potentially and equally therapeutic cell
source for treating not only stroke but
other CNS disorders, as well.
References
Text:
1. Cesar V. Borlongan, Yuji Kaneko, Mina Maki, et al. Menstrual
Blood Cells Display Stem Cell–Like Phenotypic Markers and Exert
Neuroprotection Following Transplantation in Experimental Stroke.,
Stem Cells And Development, Volume 19, Number 4, 2010.
2. Menstrual Blood: A Valuable Source of Multipotential Stem Cells?
Science Daily (Apr. 24, 2008)
3. Savneet kaur, C. C. Kartha. Stem cells: Concepts and prospects,
Current trends in Sceience; Platinum Jubilee Issue, Page 437-52.
Images:
1.http://www.countypathology.co.uk/News/files/archive-may-2009.html
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the information was collected from the open sources and the
article is re-synthesized at Quartesian. We do not claim any
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enhance the research in this area. All queries are welcome to
shiva.murthy@quartesian.com
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