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Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells improves type 1 diabetes mellitus

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Abstract

Bone-marrow-derived stem cells can regenerate pancreatic tissue in a model of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) form the main part of bone marrow. We show that the intrapancreatic transplantation of MSCs elevates serum insulin and C-peptide, while decreasing blood glucose. MSCs engrafted into the damaged rat pancreas become distributed into the blood vessels, acini, ducts, and islets. Renascent islets, islet-like clusters, and a small number of MSCs expressing insulin protein have been observed in the pancreas of diabetic rats. Intrapancreatic transplantation of MSCs triggers a series of molecular and cellular events, including differentiation towards the pancreas directly and the provision of a niche to start endogenous pancreatic regeneration, which ameliorates hypoinsulinemia and hyperglycemia caused by streptozotocin. These data establish the many roles of MSCs in the restoration of the function of an injured organ.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor Hui Qi in the Clinical Medicine Research Center, Shenzhen People’s Hospital for providing technical assistance and advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China

    Lisha Li, Yuanyuan Liu, Pingping Guo & Yulin Li

  2. The Second Clinical Medical College (Shenzhen People’s Hospital), Jinan University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Furong Li & Yali Yang

  3. Department of General Surgery, Baoan Central Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

    Feng Gao

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  1. Lisha Li
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  2. Furong Li
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  7. Yulin Li
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Correspondence to Lisha Li.

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The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 31150007, 31201052), Jilin Province Science and Technology Development Program for Young Scientists Fund (grant no. 20150520036JH), and Bethune Medical Research Support Program - Advanced Interdisciplinary Innovation Project (grant no. 2013101004).

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Li, L., Li, F., Gao, F. et al. Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells improves type 1 diabetes mellitus. Cell Tissue Res 364, 345–355 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-015-2330-5

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