preconditioning with sdf-1 improves therapeutic outcomes of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells in a mouse model of stz-induced diabetes

Background: nowadays, transplantation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (bmscs) is currently an important alternative therapy for patient’s type 1 diabetes mellitus. but a number of critical obstacles lie ahead of this new strategy in- cluding reducing stem cell homing to the damaged tissue due to oxidative stress. the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether preconditioning of bmscs with sdf-1 could enhance their homing to the pancreas and promote regeneration of the pancreatic β cells after being intravenously injected. methods: mice bmscs were isolated and expanded. cell proliferation was assayed by mtt assay. preconditioning was performed with 10 ng/ml sdf-1α for 24 hr. male nmri mice were injected with highdose stz (150 mg/kg). the preconditioned or unpreconditioned bmscs at a dose of 1×106 cells were infused via the tail vein. blood and pancreatic tissue samples were taken from all mice for flow cytometry, biochemical and histological studies. results: proliferation and homing of bmscs to the pancreas were significantly increased in the bmscs with sdf-1α preconditioning. differentiation of transplanted bmscs, were significantly increased in preconditioning group. although bmscs with- out sdf-1 preconditioning exhibited remarkable recovery of pancreatic islets structure but this recovery were significantly increased in the bmscs with sdf-1α precondition- ing. conclusion: our results showed the effectiveness of sdf-1αpreconditioning in bmscs transplantation of stz induced diabetes mice which might be achieved through improvement of bmscs homing into the injured pancreas.