Subgroup analysis for assessment of application of GABAergic cell on allodynia improvement in 16 experiments
| Subgroup | No. of experiment |
Effect size | Heterogeneity ( |
Meta-regression | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMD (95% CI) | Coef. (95% CI) | |||||
| Species | ||||||
| Mice | 5 | 1.63 (–0.50, 3.76) | 0.101 | 90.7% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| Rat | 11 | 1.83 (0.66, 3.00) | 0.006 | 83.3% (< 0.001) | 0.32 (–1.78, 2.42) | 0.749 |
| Pain inducing model | ||||||
| Peripheral | 13 | 1.92 (0.66, 3.18) | 0.006 | 90.4% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| Central | 3 | 1.75 (0.94, 2.56) | 0.012 | 0.0% (0.419) | –0.11 (–2.58, 2.36) | 0.923 |
| Route of transplantation | ||||||
| Intraspinal | 11 | 1.83 (0.93, 2.73) | 0.001 | 82.2% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| Intrathecal | 4 | 2.76 (–2.36, 7.89) | 0.184 | 93.9% (< 0.001) | 0.25 (–2.00, 2.50) | 0.816 |
| Intracranial | 1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Cell source | ||||||
| Intrinsic GABAergic |
5 | 1.19 (–0.67, 3.05) | 0.149 | 83.9% (0.001) | Ref. | |
| Genetically modified | 9 | 2.12 (0.60, 2.94) | 0.008 | 77.1% (< 0.001) | 0.64 (–1.47, 2.75) | 0.522 |
| Stem cell derived | 2 | 3.75 (–23.53, 31.03) | 0.331 | 89.8 (0.002) | 2.03 (–1.26, 5.32) | 0.206 |
| Immunosuppressive | ||||||
| Yes | 3 | 3.53 (–6.01, 13.09) | 0.252 | 94.4% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| No | 12 | 1.42 (0.73, 2.10) | < 0.001 | 79.8% (< 0.001) | –1.02 (–3.29, 1.25) | 0.349 |
| NR | 1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Antibiotic | ||||||
| Yes | 3 | 4.11 (–3.67, 11.80) | 0.151 | 91.7% (0.014) | Ref. | |
| No | 12 | 1.22 (0.64, 1.83) | < 0.001 | 68.6% (< 0.001) | –1.96 (–3.73, –0.19) | 0.033 |
| NR | 1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Blinding of outcome assessor | ||||||
| Yes | 13 | 1.96 (0.71, 3.22) | 0.005 | 91.4% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| No | 3 | 1.59 (0.02, 3.15) | 0.049 | 42.7% (0.170) | –0.32 (–2.75, 2.12) | 0.785 |
| Type of graft | ||||||
| Allograft | 10 | 1.18 (0.44, 1.92) | 0.005 | 69.1% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| Xenograft | 6 | 3.28 (0.53, 6.04) | 0.028 | 94.7% (< 0.001) | 1.56 (–0.18, 3.31) | 0.075 |
| Injury to transplant | ||||||
| 0 to 7 days | 10 | 1.41 (0.54, 2.27) | 0.005 | 81.2% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| 8 days and over | 6 | 3.02 (0.05, 5.99) | 0.048 | 94.8% (< 0.001) | 1.13 (–0.84, 3.10) | 0.238 |
| No. of cell (cell/kg) | ||||||
| ≤ 5 × 105 | 10 | 1.68 (0.43, 2.92) | 0.014 | 90.6% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| 5 × 105 to 1 × 106 | 6 | 1.79 (0.35, 3.23) | 0.024 | 50.7% (0.005) | 0.44 (–1.60, 2.47) | 0.653 |
| Follow up duration | ||||||
| 4 to 7 weeks | 9 | 1.41 (0.03, 2.80) | 0.046 | 87.3% (< 0.001) | Ref. | |
| 8 weeks and over | 7 | 2.12 (1.05, 3.19) | 0.003 | 60.3% (0.002) | 0.97 (–0.82, 2.76) | 0.265 |
SMD: standardized mean difference, CI: confidence interval, Coef.: coefficient, NR: not reported, NA: not applicable, Ref: reference category.
aSince, some included studies had more than one experiment, the number of experiments exceeded the number of studies. bGABAergic cells derived from the medial ganglionic eminence.