Objective: To explore the effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) engraftment on lung tissue at early stage of smoke inhalation injury in rabbits.
Methods: MSCs were proliferated by the method of whole marrow culture and identified by flow cytometry. Forty-eight rabbits were randomly divided into smoke inhalation group (S group) and MSCs group (M group) after reproduction of rabbit smoke inhalation injury model. 10 ml of phosphate buffer saline (PBS) containing 1×10(7)/ml MSCs was intravenously injected in M group, meanwhile 10 ml PBS was injected intravenously in S group. Eight rabbits were sacrificed at 2, 6 and 24 hours after intervention, and the lung tissue was harvested for morphological and pathological observation, and lung injury score was used to evaluate smoke inhalation injury.
Results: Cultured cells were confirmed to be MSCs with flow cytometry. Lung injury in rabbits of M group was less serious in morphology and histopathology than that in S group. Though there was no significance in lung injury score between M group and S group at 2 hours after injury (4.0±0.7 vs. 4.5±0.6, P>0.05), the lung injury scores in M group at 6 hours and 24 hours after injury were significantly lower than those in S group (6 hours: 6.1±0.9 vs. 8.2±0.9, 24 hours: 4.6±0.9 vs. 10.4±0.8, both P<0.01).
Conclusion: Intravenous engraftment of MSCs could ameliorate lung injury induced by smoke inhalation, and improve lung injury score significantly.