Sensorimotor enhancements by mesenchymal stem cells partially explained by anti-inflammatory/immunosuppressive effects with cells involved in injured rat spinal cord models.

The objective of this research was to determine whether transplantation of MSCs into the injured rat spinal cord induces allodynia-like responses. They found that in contrast to previous observations with the transplantation of neural stem cells, transplantation of MSCs did not induce allodynia. However, MSCs attenuated injury-induced sensitivity to mechanical stimuli, and also significantly attenuated the chronic inflammatory response. In addition, transplantation of MSCs increased white matter volumes and decreased cyst size in sections of the cord containing the lesion.