The effect of systemic delivery of bone marrow derived c-kit+ cells on the apoptosis in lung tissue of chronic asthmatic male rats

Abstract

In recent years, the crucial role of apoptosis has been highlighted in the pathogenesis of inflammatory lung diseases. To this end, In the current study, the effect of systemic delivery of c-kit+ cells isolated from bone marrow on the pathological changes and expression of apoptosis-related genes in lung tissues of chronic rat model of asthma were monitored. Methods Fifty male wistar rats were used in the current study. Ten rats were used randomly for isolation of c-kit+ and c-kit- cells and the rest of rats were assigned into 4 experimental groups; control (C); Asthmatic (A); Asthmatic + c-kit- cells (A + c-kit- cells) and Asthmatic + c-kit+ cells (A + c-kit+ cells). In the asthmatic groups, for induction of chronic asthmatic changes, rats were exposed with ovalbu¬min over a course of 70 days. Rats in the control group were exposed to sterile normal saline in stead of ovalbu¬min using the same protocol. Two weeks post-transplantation, animals were euthanized and their lung tissue was removed. Pathological injuries were assessed using H&E staining. The expression of apoptosis-related genes was investigated using real-time PCR assay. Results Data revealed pathological injures in lung tissue of asthmatic groups coincided with the down regulation of Bcl-2 and up-regulation Bax, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and Caspase-3 compared to the control group. Systemic injection of c-kit+ cells inhibited OVA -induced changes.