Effect of Human Umblical Cord Blood Stem Cells on a Rodent Model of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease, which mainly affects the motor system. It is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway and formation of Lewy bodies. So far, there is no an effective treatment for PD, and the hope is to find neuroprotective strategies to stop or mitigate the disease progression. Therefore, this study aimed to find a treatment for PD with the help of regenerative medicine. Rotenone was administered subcutaneously in thirty adult female rats at a dose of 2 mg/kg BW for 35 days to induce PD. Afterwards; the animals were treated by either levocar or human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs). Body weight and behavior were recorded weekly around one month, then estimation of dopamine level in brain tissues and histopathological examination were also performed after one month. hUCB-MSCs-treated group showed an improvement (P< 0.05) of the body weight, behavioral assessment, dopamine level and the histopathological findings when compared with the untreated group.  Levocar-treated group showed an improvement (P< 0.05) of body weight and behavioral assessment, whereas non-significant differences in dopamine level and the histopathological findings were noticed when compared with the untreated group. In conclusion, hUCB-MSCs significantly improved rotenone-induced PD, which evident by improving behavioral patterns, body weight, dopamine level and brain lesions.