A preliminary study of homotopic fetal cortical and spinal cotransplants in adult rats.
Neocortical and spinal tissue from a given E16-17 rat fetus were homotopically transplanted into lesion sites of adult rats which had undergone combined cortical and complete lower thoracic spinal cord lesions. Spinal cord transplants were placed either directly into the gap in host spinal cord or embedded in a collagen matrix. Animals were killed from 4 days to 8 months and tissues were processed for light microscopy. All cortical transplants survived and integrated with host brain. Many axons appeared to grow between the cortical transplant and subjacent host parenchyma. Only collagen-embedded spinal transplants survived. At 8 months, two animals underwent spinal cord transection and HRP implantation two vertebral segments rostral to the spinal cord transplantation site. Both animals revealed HRP-labeled neurons in the cortical transplants. It was concluded that 1) homotopically transplanted fetal cortical tissue can survive and may be capable of extending axons to midthoracic levels, and 2) a collagen matrix may enhance the survival of fetal tissues transplanted into a complete gap in host spinal cord.
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Texas A & M University, College Station 77843.
J B
JB
Gelderd
J E
JE
Quarles
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000637:transplantation*; D003094:Collagen / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000637:transplantation*
D003094:Collagen; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase