The effect of bone marrow derived c-kit+ stem cells on tracheal responsiveness and levels of T-bet and GATA-3 mRNAs in lung tissue of ovalbumin-sensitized male rats

Abstract

The effects of intratracheal administration of c-Kit+ bone marrow cells on tracheal responsiveness, total and differential WBC counts as well as lung pathological changes and the expression levels of Gata3 and T-bet mRNAs were evaluated in this investigation. Methods: Forty male Wistar rats (8-10 weeks old, weighting 200-250 g) were allocated randomly into four experimental groups: healthy rats (control), sensitized rats (OVA), sensitized rats receiving c-Kit− cells (OVA+Kit−) and c-Kit+ cells (OVA+Kit+ group). 10 healthy rats were randomly selected for the isolation of bone marrow-derived Kit+ cells. The assesments were done after 14 days. Resoults: Monitoring of labelled tagged cells confirmed successful engraftment of transplanted cells in pulmonary tissue. The statistically significant increase in tracheal contractility, total white blood cell, eosinophil and neutrophil counts, Gata3 expression and pathological changes were seen in sensitized groups compared to C group (p<0.001) while there was significantly decrease in OVA+ckit+ group compared to OVA and OVA+ckit- groups (p<0.001 to p<0.05). The EC50, number of lymphocytes and T-bet mRNA expression diminished in sensitized rats compared with control animals (p<0.001) which elevated in OVA+ckit+ group compared to OVA and OVA+ckit- groups (p<0.001 to p<0.01).