Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) promotes the regeneration of severe endometrial damage in a rat model
Abstract Background: Intrauterine adhesions (IUA) is a common endometrial disease, which is one of the causes of infertility. Transplantation of stem cells may provide a viable solution for endometrial repair and regeneration. We made a model of severe endometrial injury in rats, transplanted hUCMSCs, and studied the effect of hUCMSCs on endometrial regeneration. Methods: Thirty-two female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal group, injury control group, MSC1 group and MSC2 group. After 15 days of intervention and transplantation, histological analysis was performed and cytokine messenger RNA expression was measured. Results: The HE staining results showed that the endometrial tissue of the injury control group was significantly damaged, and the endometrial tissues of the MSC1 group and the MSC2 group were improved. We did not detect the expression of keratin and vimentin in the injury control group. However, there was the expression of keratin and vimentin in the MSC1 group and the MSC2 group. The results of Real-time PCR showed that the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) mRNA in the normal group and MSC1 group was lower than that of the injury control group (P<0.05).The expression levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) mRNA in the normal group and MSC2 group were higher than that of the injury control group (P<0.05). The expression levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mRNA in the normal group was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions: Transplantation of hUCMSCs promoted the recovery of severe endometrial damage in rats. These findings suggest the effect may be related to the mechanisms of homing and paracrine secretion.