Ischemic-hypoxic preconditioning enhances the mitochondrial function recovery of transplanted olfactory mucosa mesenchymal stem cells via miR-181a signaling in ischemic stroke

Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury causes a series of intricate cascade reactions in brain tissue causing apoptosis and proinflammatory programmed cell death known as pyroptosis of nerve cells. The dysfunction of target organelle mitochondria plays a key role in the process of neuronal apoptosis and pyroptosis. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used in the experimental or clinical treatment of various ischemic diseases, but the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury need to be improved. We successfully cultured olfactory mucosa MSCs (OM-MSCs) to obtain a better source of seed cells. In this way, the therapeutic potential of OM-MSCs transplantation has been evaluated for ischemic stroke using an optimized culture scheme in vitro. Ischemic-hypoxic preconditioned OM-MSCs (IhOM-MSCs) were used to treat a neuron model of oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion and the middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats. These results demonstrated that IhOM-MSCs mediated the upregulation of the downstream target genes GRP78 and Bcl-2 by miR-181a to protect mitochondrial function and inhibit apoptosis and pyroptosis of neurons in the ischemia/reperfusion injury model. Thus, IhOM-MSCs transplantation may be an effective therapy of ischemic stroke in the future.