Left Barrel Cortical Neurons Activity following Transplantation of Stem Cells into Right Lesioned-Barrel Cortex in Rats

Stem cells (SCs) can improve the functional defects of brain injury. Rodents use their whiskers to get tactileinformation from their surroundings. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the transplantation of SCs into thelesioned barrel cortex can help neuronal function in the contralateral cortex. Sixteen male Wistar rats (200-230 g) were used in this experimental study. We induceda mechanical lesion in the right barrel cortex area of rats by removing this area by a 3 mm skin punch. Four groupscontaining one intact group of rats: group 1: control, and three lesion groups, group 2: lesion+un-differentiated dentalpulp SCs (U-DPSCs), group 3: lesion+differentiated dental pulp SCs (D-DPSCs), and group 4: cell medium (vehicle)that were injected in the lesion area. Three weeks after transplantation of SCs or cell medium, the rats’ responses ofleft barrel cortical neurons to controlled deflections of right whiskers were recorded by using the extracellular single-unitrecordings technique. The results showed that the neural spontaneous activity and response magnitude of intact barrel cortexneurons in the lesion group decreased significantly (P<0.05) compared to the control group while ON and OFF responseswere improved in the D-DPSCs (P<0.001) group compared to the vehicle group three weeks after transplantation. Transplantation of dental pulp mesenchymal SCs significantly improved the neural responses of the leftbarrel cortex that was depressed in the vehicle group.