title: Effects of combined BDNF and GDNF treatment on cultured dopaminergic midbrain neurons.
abstract: Neural transplantation is an experimental therapy for Parkinson's disease. Pretreatment of fetal donor tissue with neurotrophic factors may improve survival of grafted dopaminergic neurons. Free-floating roller tube cultures of fetal rat ventral mesencephalon were treated with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), or a combination of both. Dopamine content of the culture medium, the number of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons, and culture volumes were moderately increased in the BDNF- and GDNF-treated cultures but significantly increased by 6.8-, 3.2- and 2.4-fold, respectively after treatment with the combination of both factors. We conclude that pretreatment of dopaminergic tissue in culture with a combination of BDNF and GDNF may be an effective means to improve the quality of tissue prior to grafting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sautter
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spenger
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Seiler
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Widmer
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000196:embryology; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C495041:Gdnf protein, rat; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D004298:Dopamine