Abstract
Background: Recent studies have suggested that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) might have potential therapeutic effects in acute lung injury (ALI), specifically in bleomycin-induced and bacterial LPS-induced lung injury models. However, whether MSC could induce an early anti-inflammatory response in lung injury induced by overventilation remains to be elucidated.
Aim: To assess the potential role of MSC in preventing or modulating early inflammation in healthy rats subjected to ventilator induced lung injury (VILI).
Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (250-300 g) were anaesthetised, tracheotomised, intubated and paralysed by intravenous instillation of pancuronium bromide. Nine rats were ventilated with a high tidal volume of 25 ml/kg (VILI) for 3 h. Five millions of MSC were intravenously injected to 4 of these rats 30 min before starting ventilation. Spontaneously breathing anesthetised rats (N=4) served as controls. After 3 h of VILI/control the animals were sacrificed and broncoalveolar lavage inflammatory cells were assessed.
Results: In VILI, MSC significantly (p<0.01) decreased total neutrophil counts from 7620±3710 to 1580±470 (cells/μL), which was close to control values (787±344; p=0.6).
Conclusion: This preliminary result suggests that infusion of bone marrow-derived MSC prevents early inflammation in VILI.
Funding: L. Chimenti was a recipient of a ERS/Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellowships 2010
- © 2011 ERS
