Neuregulin-1 impacting bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell migration is conducive to functional recovery following spinal cord injury

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of neuregulin-1 (NRG1) on the migration of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and evaluate the role of NRG1 in the functional recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI). Firstly, the effect of NRG1 on the mRNA expression of Snail in the BMSCs was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis; secondly, the BMSCs were transfected with a Snail-overexpression plasmid (pBabe-puro-Snail) and the expression levels of Snail and matrix metalloptoreinase-2 (MMP-2) were detected by RT-qPCR and western blot analyses; thirdly, the cell proliferation and migration of BMSCs modified with pBabe-puro-Snail were detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium and migration assays, respectively; finally, functional recovery of SCI was assessed using the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan rating scales. The results showed that NRG1 concentration-dependently promoted the expression of Snail with a peak at 40 ng/ml and 48 h; NRG1 enhanced the promoting effect of Snail on the expression of MMP-2; the overexpression of Snail did not enhance the cell growth of the BMSCs. The NRG1-modified BMSCs promoted the functional recovery of SCI. These results suggested that NRG1 significantly promoted the expression of MMP-2 by upregulating the expression of Snail, and enhanced cell migration of the BMSCs conducive to the functional recovery of SCI.