Lian Li1,
Michael Chopp1, 2, Guangliang Ding1,
Changsheng Qu3, Qingjiang Li1, Siamak P. Nejad-Davarani1,
Quan Jiang1
1Neurology,
Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, United States; 2Physics, Oakland
University, Rochester, MI, United States; 3Neurosurgery, Henry
Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, United States
While cell transplantation has potential as an effective therapeutic strategy to attenuate secondary injury after traumatic brain injury (TBI), several key issues regarding optimization of basic transplantation techniques, such as timing of transplantation, remain to be addressed. Using MRI, we tested the hypothesis that acute engraftment of human marrow stromal cells (hMSCs) into the brain subjected to TBI provides an advanced therapeutic effect as compared to delayed transplantation. Our data demonstrate that acute cell intervention extends the time range of therapeutic benefit by initiating the therapeutic effects earlier, resulting in an enhanced protective and therapeutic effect.