BACKGROUND: Spinocerebel ar ataxia is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by slowly progressive movement incoordination of the limbs. It responds badly to common medication. OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and al ogeneic umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells tranfusion in the treatment of spinocerebel ar ataxia. METHODS: A total of 27 spinocerebel ar ataxia patients treated with mesenchymal stem cells treatment were included for comprehensive statistical analysis. Among these patients, six patients received autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells lumbar puncture treatment and 21 patients received al ogeneic umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells lumbar puncture treatment combined with intravenous infusion. The neurologic function of the patients in the two groups was evaluated with International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale before and after treatment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There was no obvious adverse effect in the 27 spinocerebel ar ataxia patients during, before or after mesenchymal stem cells treatment. The effect of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in six patents was not significant; for the other 21 patients treated with al ogeneic umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells transfusion, the subjective symptoms of the patients were improved, and the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale scores were decreased significantly at 3 months after treatment when compared with those before treatment (P < 0.05). The results suggest that umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells treatment is safe and able to ameliorate the clinical symptoms and improve life quality of spinocerebel ar ataxia patients to some extent.