Intranasally applied human olfactory mucosa neural progenitor cells migrate to damaged brain regions

John M Kronner; Adam Folbe; Jay Meythaler; John O Nelson; Andrei Borisov; Jean D Peduzzi

doi:10.2144/fsoa-2022-0012

Intranasally applied human olfactory mucosa neural progenitor cells migrate to damaged brain regions

Future Sci OA. 2022 Jul 12;8(6):FSO806. doi: 10.2144/fsoa-2022-0012. eCollection 2022 Jul.

Authors

John M Kronner¹, Adam Folbe², Jay Meythaler³, John O Nelson¹, Andrei Borisov⁴, Jean D Peduzzi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Visual & Anatomical Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.
² Department of Otolaryngology, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, MI 48309, USA.
³ Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.

Abstract

Aim: To determine if intranasally administered olfactory mucosa progenitor cells (OMPCs) migrate to damaged areas of brain.

Materials & methods: Rowett Nude (RNU) adult rats were injured using the Marmarou model then 2 weeks later received intranasally-delivered human OMPC. After 3 weeks, rats were sacrificed and brain sectioned. The mean distances from the human OMPCs to markers for degenerative neuronal cell bodies (p-c-Jun⁺), axonal swellings on damaged axons (β-APP⁺) and random points in immunostained sections were quantified. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze data.

Results: The human OMPCs were seen in specific areas of the brain near degenerating cell bodies and damaged axons.

Conclusion: Intranasally delivered human OMPC selectively migrate to brain injury sites suggesting a possible noninvasive stem cell delivery for brain injury.

Keywords: brain injury; homing; intranasal delivery; olfactory mucosa; progenitor cells; stem cells.