Stem Cells in the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain: Research Progress of Mechanism

Table 2

Preclinical study of stem cells involved in peripheral mechanism in the treatment of neuropathic pain.

Cell type (source)	Delivery site	Cell number	Model of NP and species	Brief peripheral mechanism	Author and year
ADMSCs (rats)	i.p.; Local application		CCI (rats)	Decreased IL-1β and IL-6 in the sciatic nerve and increased IL-10 expression.	Mert et al. [31]
AM1241-pretreated BMSCs (SCB)	i.t.		CCI (mice)	Inhibited CCI-induced p-ERK1/2 expression in the DRGs, and increased the amount of TGF-β1 protein in the DRGs.; TGF-β1 attenuated NP through inhibition of p-ERK1/2.	Xie et al. [34]
BMSCs (rats)	i.v.		Paclitaxel-induced neuropathy (rats)	Increased expression of NGF in the sciatic nerve, reversed the increase of NF-κBp65, TNF-α, and IL-6 caused by CCI.	Al-Massri et al. [35]
BMSCs (mice)	i.t.		CCI (mice)	Inhibited expression of ATF3 in DRG neurons induced by CCI. Reversed the downregulation of CGRP and IB4 staining in central axon terminals of DRG neurons and spinal dorsal horn caused by CCI.	Chen et al. [38]
AFMSCs (human)	i.v.		CCI (rats)	Increased the expression of IL-1 β, CD68, and TNF-α, and decreased the expression of S100 and neurofilament in the injured nerve.	Chiang et al. [39]
ADSCs (human)	Direct implantation of the injured site		SCI (rats)	Increased the transcription of GDNF and decreased the expression of IL-6 at the injured site.	Sarveazad et al. [42]
SV-VEGF-NSCs (ATCC)	Direct implantation of the injured site		Sciatic nerve crush injury (rats)	The expression of VEGF could increase cell viability, promote myelin regeneration, and sciatic nerve angiogenesis.	Lee et al. [47]
ADSCs (rats)	i.v.		Oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy (rats)	Reversed the increase of VEGF concentration induced by oxaliplatin.	Di Cesare Mannelli et al. [48]

Notes: the above-mentioned experimental studies have shown that the stem cells used in the study are effective and analgesic in the treatment of neuropathic pain in this model. Abbreviations: CCI: chronic constriction nerve injury model; SCI: spinal cord injury model; BMSCs: bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells; ADSCs: adipose-derived stem cells; AFMSCs: amniotic fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells; SV-VEGF-NSCs: vascular endothelial growth factor-expressing neural stem cell; i.p.: intraperitoneal injection; i.v.: intraperitoneal injection; i.t.: intrathecal injection; SCB: Stem Cell Bank (Chinese Academy of Sciences); ATCC: American Type Culture Collection (CRL-2925; ATCC, Manassas, Virginia, USA).