Background: Traditional therapeutic strategies used for the treatment of acute kidney injury (AKI) proved to be less effective in reducing the morbidity and mortality rate. Recently, stem cell therapy showed a promise for treatment of this complex disorder.
Aim: To investigate the therapeutic role of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) in treatment of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity as a model of AKI.
Material and Methods: Twenty adult female Wister rats were divided equally into four groups. Group I was the control, the other three groups received a single intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin (5 mg /kg), where group II were sacrificed after one day from cisplatin injection, group III were sacrificed after seven days from cisplatin injection and group IV received adult male rat AD-MSCs (2x106 cells/rat) in tail vein one day after cisplatin injection and were sacrificed seven days after cisplatin injection.
Results: The histopathological changes in the renal cortex were more obviously detected in group III than in group II. These changes include congested and shrunken glomeruli, dilated Bowman's space and loss of proximal convoluted tubules brush borders. Moreover, distal tubular cells showed cytoplasmic vacuolization, with pyknotic nuclei and presence of intraluminal hyaline casts. Interstitial collagen deposition was also noticed. In group IV, AD-MSCs administration almost restores the renal histological architecture. Increased tubular cell proliferation with marked reduction of the interstitial inflammation and fibrosis were also detected. However, some renal glomeruli and tubules showed degenerative changes. Male rat derived-stem cells were detected in the female kidney tissue by Y chromosome PCR technique.
Conclusion: Administration of AD-MSCs had a potential regenerative effect for the management of AKI.