Permeability of the blood-brain barrier within rat intrastriatal transplants assessed by simultaneous systemic injection of horseradish peroxidase and Evans blue dye.
Both horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and Evans blue dye (EBD) have been used previously to characterize the status of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) within brain tissue transplants and host brain tissue. We investigated the possibility that a differential permeability of the vasculature to these two markers can account for discrepancies in the literature concerning the presence of an intact BBB within the grafted tissues. Intravascular injection of both HRP and EBD was used to evaluate the status of the BBB within intracerebral tissue transplants. Simultaneous injection of HRP and EBD in rats with adrenal medulla transplants or C-6 glioma tumors demonstrated a lack of a BBB within these grafts. Both markers produced consistent results within each tissue type, although HRP was generally a more sensitive marker. In contrast to the lack of a BBB in the C-6 gliomas or adrenal medulla transplants, 1-week-old fetal striatal transplants had a BBB essentially intact to both HRP and EBD. Any reported discrepancies in the characterization of the BBB are not likely due to differences between the properties of HRP or EBD. Fetal striatal transplants appear to have an intact BBB at 1 week following transplantation.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Ohio 45267.
K J
KJ
Bertram
M T
MT
Shipley
M
M
Ennis
P R
PR
Sanberg
A B
AB
Norman
D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000637:transplantation*; D000818:Animals; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016380:Brain Tissue Transplantation; D002199:Capillary Permeability; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D005070:Evans Blue; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation; D005910:Glioma / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D005070:Evans Blue; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase