Vaccination with dendritic cells pulsed with homogenate protein of spinal cord promotes functional recovery from spinal cord injury in mice

Study design: Randomized, double-blinded animal experiment for neural functional recovery from spinal cord injury (SCI) through vaccination with immature dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with homogenate protein of spinal cord (hpDCs) in mice. Objective: To study the effect of hpDCs in the recovery from SCI in mice. Method: Immature DCs pulsed with homogenate protein of spinal cord, myelin basic protein (MBP) or phosphate-buffer solution (PBS) were injected into spinal cord-injured mice locally or peritoneally. The functional recovery of spinal cord (open-field locomotor rating scale of Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan, BBB score) was measured weekly. The areas of injured region and cyst as well as the thickness of the glial scar were measured and the expressions of glial fibrillary acidic protein, neurofilament and nestin were detected to confirm the BBB scores. Results: Eighty-four days after injection, the BBB score of the hpDCs group (peritoneally injected mice) reached 18.2 +/- 1.1, significantly higher than that the scores of the mbpDCs and control groups (16.3 +/- 2.1 and 10.0 +/- 2.0, respectively). The areas of injured region and cyst as well as the thickness of the glial scar of the hpDCs group were less than that of the control group. Meanwhile, the expression of nestin lasts up to 56 days after injection in the hpDCs group, while it disappeared in the mbpDCs and PBS groups. Conclusion: Implanting DCs pulsed with homogenate protein of spinal cord, but not mbpDCs or PBS alone, locally or peritoneally, have a significant effect on functional recovery and neural preservation from SCI. Spinal Cord (2009) 47, 360-366; doi:10.1038/sc.2008.112; published online 30 September 2008