Xenogeneic and Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cells Effectively Protect the Lung Against Ischemia-reperfusion Injury Through Downregulating the Inflammatory, Oxidative Stress, and Autophagic Signaling Pathways in Rat

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that both allogenic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) and human inducible pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs (iPS-MSCs) offered a comparable effect for protecting the lung against ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in rodent through downregulating the inflammatory, oxidative stress, and autophagic signaling pathways. Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats ( n = 32) were categorized into group 1 (sham-operated control), group 2 (IRI), group 3 [IRI + ADMSCs (1.0 × 10 6 cells)/tail-vein administration at 0.5/18/36 h after IR], and group 4 [IRI + iPS-MSCs (1.0 × 10 6 cells)/tail-vein administration at 0.5/18/36 h after IR], and lungs were harvested at 72 h after IR procedure. In vitro study demonstrated that protein expressions of three signaling pathways in inflammation (TLR4/MyD88/TAK1/IKK/I-κB/NF-κB/Cox-2/TNF-α/IL-1ß), mitochondrial damage/cell apoptosis (cytochrome C/cyclophilin D/DRP1/ASK1/APAF-1/mitochondrial-Bax/caspase3/8/9), and autophagy/cell death (ULK1/beclin-1/Atg5,7,12, ratio of LCB3-II/LC3B-I, p-AKT/m-TOR) were significantly higher in lung epithelial cells + 6h hypoxia as compared with the control, and those were significantly reversed by iPS-MSC treatment (all P < 0.001). Flow cytometric analysis revealed that percentages of the inflammatory cells in bronchioalveolar lavage fluid and circulation, and immune cells in circulation/spleen as well as circulatory early and late apoptotic cells were highest in group 2, lowest in group 1, and significantly higher in group 3 than in group 4 (all P < 0.0001). Microscopy showed the lung injury score and numbers of inflammatory cells and Western blot analysis showed the signaling pathways of inflammation, mitochondrial damage/cell apoptosis, autophagy, and oxidative stress exhibited an identical pattern of flow cytometric results among the four groups (all P < 0.0001). Both xenogeneic and allogenic MSCs protected the lung against IRI via suppressing the inflammatory, oxidative stress, and autophagic signaling.