Transplanting intact donor tissue enhances dopamine cell survival and the predictability of motor improvements in a rat model of Parkinson's disease

Regenerative Effects and Development Patterns of Solid Neural Tissue Grafts Located in Gelatin Hydrogel Conduit for Treatment of Peripheral Nerve Injury

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Background:

The regeneration of the peripheral nerves after injuries is still a challenging fundamental and clinical problem. The cell therapy and nerve guide conduit construction are promising modern approaches. Nowadays, different sources of cells for transplantation are available. But it is little known about the interaction between fetal central nervous system cells and peripheral nerve tissue. In this study, we analyzed the development of the fetal neocortex and spinal cord solid grafts injected into the gelatin hydrogel conduits and their effects on sciatic nerve regeneration after cut injury.

Methods:

Frontal neocortex tissue was obtained from E19.5 and spinal cord tissue was obtained from E14.5 fetuses harvested from transgenic EGFP mice. The grafts were injected into the hydrogel conduits which were connected to the nerve stumps after cut injury. The recovery of motor function was estimated with walking track analysis at 2, 5, and 8 weeks after surgery. Then immunohistochemical study was performed.

Results:

The histological examination showed that only fetal neocortex solid graft cells had survived after implantation. Immunostaining revealed that some of the transplanted cells expressed neural markers such as neurofilament protein and NeuN. But the cells mostly differentiated in glial lineage, which was confirmed with immunostaining for GFAP and S100β. The walking-track analysis has shown that 8 weeks after surgery bioengineered conduit differed significantly from the control.

Conclusions:

We revealed that the hydrogel conduit is suitable for nerve re-growth and that the fetal neocortex grafted cells can survive and differentiate. Bioengineered conduit can stimulate functional recovery after the nerve injury.

Development of a stereotaxic device for low impact implantation of neural constructs or pieces of neural tissues into the mammalian brain

Implanting pieces of tissue or scaffolding material into the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) is wrought with difficulties surrounding the size of tools needed to conduct such implants and the ability to maintain the orientation and integrity of the constructs during and after their transplantation. Here, novel technology has been developed that allows for the implantation of neural constructs or intact pieces of neural tissue into the CNS with low trauma. By “laying out” (instead of forcibly expelling) the implantable material from a thin walled glass capillary, this technology has the potential to enhance neural transplantation procedures by reducing trauma to the host brain during implantation and allowing for the implantation of engineered/dissected tissues or constructs in such a way that their orientation and integrity are maintained in the host. Such technology may be useful for treating various CNS disorders which require the reestablishment of point-to-point contacts (e.g., Parkinson's disease) across the adult CNS, an environment which is not normally permissive to axonal growth.