The focus of our interest was to explore the role of single intravenous dose of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from bone marrow (BM-MSCs) and adipose tissue (ADMSCs) in management of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in comparison with cerebrolysin as a reference drug in experimental model. The animals included in the study were divided into five groups; the first one served as healthy control, while, the other groups were administered with AlCl3 orally to induce AD. Then, group of AD rats were left without treatment (Group 2) and the other groups were treated with cerebrolysin (Group 3), BM-MSCs (Group 4) and ADMSCs (Group 5). The levels of TGF-β1, MCP-1 and BDNF were determined in serum by ELISA. Nestin gene expression level was detected in brain tissues by sqRTPCR. While, ChAT expression was determined in brain tissue by immunohistochemical procedure. Also, histopathological examination of brain tissues was performed. BM-MSCs and ADMSCs were engrafted into AD affected brains and caused insignificant decline in serum TGF-β1 and MCP-1 levels in concomitant with significant elevation in serum BDNF and brain nestin gene expression levels. Furthermore, the engrafted cells elecited significant increase in the expression of brain ChAT and ameliorated the neurodegeneration of hippocampus. In conclusion, the current data provide distinct evidence about the importance of BM-MSCs and ADMSCs as a novel therapeutic avenue for AD through their anti-inflammatory effect, neurotrophic and neurogenic potentials as well as Aβ clearing activity.
