Somatostatin-like neurons are expressed in fetal neocortical homografts in adult rat spinal cord.
Fetal central nervous system homografts to adult spinal cord are considered a potential aid for recovery of function after paraplegia. This study utilizes somatostatin (SOM) immunohistochemistry to study the organization of an embryonic day 14 (E14) neocortical homograft into the spinal cord of an adult host over 6 postoperative months. Although the E14 homograft does not contain SOM-positive cells, SOM-reactive neurons are expressed by 30 days postimplantation and are still present in 6-month-old homografts. SOM-immunoreactive neurons are bitufted or multipolar and have dendrites that are confined to the graft. The homograft contains SOM-immunoreactive axons entering and/or exiting from lamina II in the host dorsal horn and SOM-positive homografted neurons send axons into the host ventral columns. These data show that the SOM peptide neocortical phenotype is preserved in homografts to spinal cord but there is anatomical host-homograft integration.
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000032:analysis / Q000637:transplantation*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D006085:Graft Survival; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification / Q000637:transplantation*; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*
D010455:Peptides; C029993:somatostatin-like peptides