Objective: To investigate the effects of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (UC-MSCs) transplantation on interstitial pneumonitis in MRL/lpr mice.
Methods: Twenty four 18-week-old MRL/lpr female mice were randomly divided into 3 groups: the single dose group received a single dose of UC-MSCs (1 x 10(6)) transfusion intravenously, the 3 dose group received 3 injections of UC-MSCs (1 x 10(6)) weekly for 3 weeks, and the control mice were treated with saline. Both the control and the treated mice were sacrificed at 29 weeks. The histopathology of the lungs were assessed by HE staining.
Results: In comparison to the control mice, UC-MSCs transplantation significantly attenuated interstitial pneumonitis in the MRL/lpr mice. The peribronchiolar lesion indices of the single dose treatment group (1.40 +/- 0.24) and the 3 dose treatment group (1.02 +/- 0.29) were significantly decreased as compared to the control group (1.95 +/- 0.35), q = 0.551, 0.937, all P < 0.01. The perivascular lesion index of the single dose treatment group (1.20 +/- 0.18) and the 3 dose treatment group (1.08 +/- 0.16) were also significantly reduced as compared to the control group (1.56 +/- 0.32), q = 0.360, 0.479, P < 0.05, P < 0.01. The inflammatory cell infiltration index of the control group (1.72 +/- 0.34) was significantly increased compared to the single dose treatment group (1.30 +/- 0.21) and the 3 dose treatment group (1.05 +/- 0.15), q = 0.417, 0.673, P < 0.05, P < 0.01.
Conclusions: These findings indicate that UC-MSCs have a pleiotropic therapeutic effect on pneumonitis in MRL/lpr mice.