COMPARATIVE STUDY ON EFFECT OF OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID AND BONE MARROW MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS ON COLD STRESS INDUCED NEURONAL CHANGES IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS OF RATS.

The present study aimed to compare the effect of Omega3 fatty acids (OFA) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC’s) on stress induced neuronal degeneration in CA1 hippocampus region of rats. For isolation and culture of BMSCs, a three week old Wistar rat was sacrificed, femora and tibiae were collected then mesenchymal cells cultured. The 6^th passage cells are analyzed by flow cytometry for the expression of CD44, CD90 for positivity and CD45 for negative expression. In this experiment, thirty six rats aged 8 weeks old were divided into six Groups (n=6). Group I was control, Group II was given forced cold water swim stress, Group III: cold stress followed by saline Group IV and V, cold stress followed by oral gavages of omega-3 fatty acids 60mg/Kg for 2 weeks (short-term model) and 4 weeks (long term model) respectively and Group VI was cold stress followed by intravenous injection of 1 X 10⁶ BMSCs. Behavioural function test performed using Y-maze. After treatment, rats were sacrificed for Cortisol assay and histological studies. Results indicate treatment with BMSC’s shows significantly increased neuronal cell and mean spontaneous alteration behavior compared to OFA. BMSC’s shows better therapeutic effect than OFA in cognitive decline.