Clinicopathological Studies on the Use of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells in the Treatment of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes mellitus in Sprague Dawley Rats

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a systemic disease affecting all body systems. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) therapy has a promising value in the management of kidney, liver and pancreatic degeneration. Fifty Sprague Dawley male rats were used in this experiment. Five rats were used as a source of BM-MSCs and Five (STZ-diabetic) rats were used in the cell tracking. The remaining 40 rats were randomly divided into 4 equal groups; (I) control group, (II) stem cell group, (III) untreated diabetic group and (IV) treated diabetic (BM-MSCs) group. group.DM was induced by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) in a dose of 55 mg/ kg body weight. The BM-MSCs were collected from the bone marrow of 10 male rats, cultured, characterized by flowcytometry analysis and labeled with Qtracker 655 cell labeling. BM-MSCs were transplanted in group (IV) at the 7th day of STZ injection. Rats were euthanized 4 weeks after STZ injection. Blood samples were collected at the end of experiment (4th week of BM-MSCs transplantation). The pancreas, kidney and liver tissues were collected. Hematological, biochemical, insulin gene expression and histopathological examination were performed for all experimental groups. Untreated diabetic group showed significant disturbances in liver, kidney and pancreatic functions with excessive production of inflammatory cytokines in kidney tissues and increased oxidative stress in liver tissues. The BM-MSCs treated diabetic group showed significant improvement in organs functions, insulin gene expression as well as hematological and histopathological examinations. BM-MSCs therapy in diabetic rats triggered improvement of the diabetic state and ameliorated some of its complications.