(W1095) Paeoniflorin Combined with Neural Stem Cell Transplantation for Parkinson's Disease: Synergistic Effects of Cell Therapy and Inflammation Regulation
Graduate Student Peking University People's Hospital Beijing, Beijing, China
Abstract: This study investigates the therapeutic potential of combining paeoniflorin (PF), a neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory compound derived from traditional Chinese medicine, with neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation for Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment. PD, characterized by progressive dopaminergic neuron loss in the substantia nigra, lacks therapies that modify disease progression. While NSC transplantation aims to replace degenerated neurons, its efficacy is limited by inflammatory microenvironments that impair graft survival and differentiation. In vitro, embryonic rat midbrain-derived NSCs differentiated into functional dopaminergic neurons. PF pretreatment significantly enhanced neuronal viability under inflammatory stress, suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine release, and inhibited key inflammatory signaling pathways (TLR4/MYD88/NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasome). In vivo, PF co-administered with NSCs in a neurotoxin-induced PD model markedly improved striatal dopaminergic neuron survival compared to NSC-only transplantation, while concurrently reducing neuroinflammation. These findings demonstrate that PF synergizes with NSC therapy by mitigating inflammatory damage and enhancing graft survival and maturation. The study establishes a novel combinatorial strategy that addresses critical barriers in PD cell therapy, offering a promising translational approach to slow disease progression through dual neuroprotection and immunomodulation.
