Stem Cell Therapy for Neurogenic Bladder Dysfunction in Rodent Models: A Systematic Review

PURPOSE: Neurogenic bladder dysfunction (NGB) has an impact on the quality of life, which made it an important research subject in preclinical studies. The present review investigates the effect of stem cell (SC) therapy on bladder functional recovery after the onset of spinal cord injury (SCI), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson disease (PD), and stroke in rodent models. METHODS: All experiments evaluated the regenerative potential of SC on the management of NGB in rodent models up to June 2019, were included. From 1,189 relevant publications, 20 studies met our inclusion criteria of which 15 were conducted on SCI, 2 on PD, 2 on stroke, and 1 on MS in the rodent models. We conducted a meta-analysis on SCI experiments and for other neurological diseases, detailed urodynamic findings were reported. RESULTS: The common SC sources used for therapeutical purposes were neural progenitor cells, bone marrow mesenchymal SCs, human amniotic fluid SCs, and human umbilical cord blood SCs. There was a significant improvement of micturition pressure in both contusion and transaction SCI models 4 and 8 weeks post-SC transplantation. Residual urine volume, micturition volume, and bladder capacity were improved 28 days after SC transplantation only in the transaction model of SCI. Nonvoiding contraction recovered only in 56 days post-cell transplantation in the contusion model. CONCLUSIONS: Partial bladder recovery has been evident after SC therapy in SCI models. Due to limitations in the number of studies in other neurological diseases, additional studies are necessary to confirm the detailed mechanism for bladder recovery.