Exogenous neural stem cells promote migratory repair of dissociative injury in the rat olfactory bulb

Our study aims to explore whether transplantation of exogenous NSCs could be an effective means to deal with neuronal death. In this study, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) nerve tracing and rat olfactory bulb injury model were established; olfactory function was evaluated; HRP nerve tracing assay was conducted; primary NSCs was prepared, identified, differentiated into astrocytes, and used for treatment SD rats with injured olfactory bulb. Results showed that the foraging time was longer in the disconnected olfactory bulb group than the undisconnected group; HRP nerve tracing showed negative TMB staining in the disconnected olfactory bulb injury site and positive TMB staining in the corresponding undisconnected olfactory bulb site, which confirmed the successful establishment of the rat olfactory bulb disconnected injury model. The primary rat cortical-derived NSCs were confirmed positive by Nestin immunofluorescence staining, and then transplanted to the olfactory nerve of olfactory bulb disconnected rats after Brdu labeling. The foraging time in the NSCs transplanted group was shorter than that in the untransplanted group, and the transplanted NSCs migrated from the olfactory nerve to the site of olfactory bulb injury, showing positive cells for Nestin and Brdu staining in the olfactory bulb anterior nucleus, and a large number of positive cells for GFAP staining in the lateral edge of the olfactory ventricle (olfactory bulb inner sublayer and granular layer, etc.). In this study, we found that transplanted exogenous NSCs exerted a migratory repair effect on olfactory bulb dissociation injury in rats, providing a reference for clinical treatment of olfactory nerve injury.