Lipoic acid enhances survival of transplanted neural stem cells by reducing transplantation-associated injury

The efficacy of stem cell-based therapy for neurological diseases depends highly on cell survival post-transplantation. One of the key factors affecting cell survival is the grafting procedure. The current study aims to determine whether needle insertion into intact rat spinal cords creates a hypoxic environment that is prone to lipid peroxidation damage upon reperfusion, and whether an antioxidant protects human neural stem cells (hNSCs) both in vitro and post-transplantation into rat spinal cords. We show here that a single needle injection creates a hypoxic environment within the rat spinal cord that peaks at approximately 12 hours before reperfusion occurs. Lipid peroxidation damage at the transplantation site is evident by 48 hours post-needle insertion. In an in vitro model, hypoxia-reperfusion results in apoptotic death of hNSCs. Pretreatment with the antioxidant, α-lipoic acid, protects hNSCs against hypoxia-reperfusion injury and oxidative stress-mediated cell death. Increasing glutathione, but not Akt signaling, contributes to the protective effect of lipoic acid. Pretreating hNSCs with lipoic acid also increases the cell survival rate 1 month post-transplantation. Further investigation is warranted to develop improved techniques to maximize the survival of transplanted stem cells.