Effectiveness of cell therapy of acute radiation syndrome in mice with intravenous and intraperitoneal administration of a cellular product

The therapeutic effect of fibroblast-like cells obtained from the stromal vascular fraction of subcutaneous adipose tissue of mice and cultured for the treatment of bone marrow form of acute radiation syndrome was studied on a mouse experimental model. The cells were identified as multipotent mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells, owing to adhesion to plastic, confluent monolayer formation during cultivation, and the fact that osteogenic differentiation in vitro resulted in osteoblast maturation and calcium deposit formation, which indicated their multipotent nature. Irradiation of laboratory rodents was conducted using the X-ray therapy unit “RUM-17”. Stromal cells were obtained from subcutaneous adipose tissue of a mouse and grown in a culture of 3–4 passages and used as a cell product. Cell transplantation was performed 24 h after uniform X-ray irradiation of mice at a dose of 7.8 Gy. This is the first study to compare the therapeutic efficacy of allogeneic transplantation of multipotent mesenchymal stem cells with the different routes (intravenous and intraperitoneal) of cell suspension administration. A significant increase was found in the survival rate of mice during the 30-day follow-up period after lethal dose irradiation, which depended on the number of injected cells and delivery method of the biomedical cell product. Thus, with intravenous administration of 30 and 60 × 10³ multipotent mesenchymal stem cells, the 30-day survival rate of mice after irradiation at a dose of 7.8 Gy increased by 54.5% and 40%, respectively, compared with that of untreated animals (p = 0.03). An increase in the number of cells in the cell product to 120 × 10³/mouse led to a decrease in therapy effectiveness. In intraperitoneal administration, the protection of animals from death was 57% after transplantation of 30 and 60 × 10³ cells (p = 0.039) and 50% after application of 120 × 10³ cells. On day 30 after irradiation, in the introduction of a cellular product in different schemes, 70%–80% of animals showed restoration of the values of the main indicators of the hematopoiesis system to initial levels. Thus, cell therapy using multipotent mesenchymal stem cells isolated from adipose tissue with intravenous and intraperitoneal delivery routes of the cellular product to the irradiated body protects mice from death after exposure to X-ray radiation in lethal doses, decreasing the severity of radiation damage to the hematopoietic system in mice, and provides prospects for further research as an effective and safe treatment for acute radiation sickness.