Combination therapy with platelet-rich plasma and epidermal neural crest stem cells increases treatment efficacy in vascular dementia

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and neural crest-derived epidermal stem cells (ESC) in alone administration and their combination in vascular dementia (VaD) model by tow-vessels occlusion (2VO). Methods the rats were divided into control, sham, 2VO + vehicle, 2VO + PRP, 2VO + ESC, and 2VO + ESC + PRP groups. The treated-groups received one million cells on days 4, 14, and 21 with or without 500µl PRP (twice a week). The behavioral performance was evaluated by open-field, passive-avoidance, and Morris-water maze. The basal-synaptic transmission (BST) and long-term potentiation (LTP) were assessed by field-potential recording. The mRNA expression levels of IGF-1, TGF-β1, PSD-95, and GSk-3β were measured in rat hippocampus by qRT-PCR. Results The results showed a learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity impairment with a significant decrease in IGF1, TGF-β1, PSD-95, and increase in expression of GSk-3β 2VO rats. Although treatment with ESC alone and ESC + PRP show comparable improvement effects on spatial memory and LTP induction associated with PSD-95 up-regulation and GSK-3β down-regulation, the BST only recovered in the ESC + PRP group. Moreover, combination therapy was superior to monotherapy with PRP. Conclusions The transplantation of ESC showed better effects than PRP alone, and combination therapy increased treatment efficacy with the recovery of BST.