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Transplantation of foetal neural stem cells into the rat hippocampus during trimethyltin-induced neurodegeneration.

Geloso MC, Giannetti S, Cenciarelli C, Budoni M, Casalbore P, Maira G, Michetti F

Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito 1, 00168, Rome, Italy.

The present study investigates the survival and fate of neural stem cells/progenitor cells (NSC/NPCs) homografted into the hippocampus of rats treated with trimethyltin (TMT), a potent neurotoxicant considered a useful tool to obtain a well characterized model of neurodegeneration, to evaluate their possible role in the reparative mechanisms that accompany neurodegenerative events. NSC/NPCs expressing eGFP by lentivirus-mediated infection were stereotaxically grafted into the hippocampus of TMT-treated animals and controls. Two weeks after transplantation surviving NSC/NPCs were detectable in 60% of TMT-treated animals and 30% of controls, while 30 days after transplantation only 40% of TMT-treated animals showed surviving grafted cells, which were undetectable in controls. At both times investigated, while grafted NSC/NPCs differentiated into neurons or astrocytes could be observed in addition to undifferentiated NSC/NPCs, we did not find evidence of structural integration of grafted cells into the main site of hippocampal lesion leading to appreciable repair.

Published 2 November 2007 in Neurochem Res, 32(12): 2054-61.
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