Chitosan-collagen porous scaffold and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for ischemic stroke

In this study, we successfully constructed a composite of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and a chitosan-collagen scaffold in vitro, transplanted either the composite or bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells alone into the ischemic area in animal models, and compared their effects. At 14 days after co-transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and the hi- tosan-collagen scaffold, neurological function recovered noticeably. Vascular endothelial growth factor expression and nestin-labeled neural precursor cells were detected in the iscbemic area, surrounding tissue, hippocampal dentate gyrus and subventricular zone. Simultaneously, a high level of expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein and a low level of expression of neuron-spe- cific enolase were visible in BrdU-labeled bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. These findings suggest that transplantation of a composite of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and a chi- tosan-collagen scaffold has a neuroprotective effect following ischemic stroke.