Efficacy of Deferoxamine Mesylate in Serum and Serum-Free Media: Adult Schwann Cell Survival Following Hydrogen Peroxide Induced Cell Death

Schwann cell (SC) transplantation shows promise in treating spinal cord injury as a pro-regenerative agent to allow host endogenous neurons to bridge over the lesion. However, SC transplants face significant oxidative stress facilitated by ROS in the lesion leading to poor survival. Deferoxamine Mesylate (DFO) is a neuroprotection agent shown to reduce H2O2 induced cell death in serum containing conditions, here we show that DFO is not necessary to induce neuroprotection under serumfree conditions by cell survival quantification and phenotypic analysis via immunohistochemistry, Hif1a and collagen IV quantification via whole cell corrected total cell fluorescence, and cell death transcript changes via RT-qPCR. Our results indicate survival of SC regardless of DFO pretreatment in serum-free conditions and an increased survival facilitated by DFO in serum containing conditions. Furthermore, our results showed strong nuclear expression of Hif1a in serum-free conditions regardless of DFO pretreatment and a nuclear expression of Hif1a in DFO treated SCs in serum conditions. Transcriptomic analysis reveals upregulation of autophagy transcripts in SCs grown in serum-free media relative to SCs in serum conditions, with and without DFO and H2O2. Thus, indicating a pro-repair and regenerative state of the SCs in serum free conditions. Overall, results indicate the protectiveness of chemically defined medium in enhancing SC survival against ROS induced cell death in vitro.