title: Simultaneous intrastriatal and intranigral grafting (double grafts) in the rat model of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Experimental and clinical studies of neural transplantation in Parkinson's disease have focused on the placement of fetal dopaminergic grafts not in their ontogenic site (substantia nigra) but in the main nigral target area (striatum). The reason for this is the apparent inability of intranigral nigral grafts to extend axons for long distances reinnervating the ipsilateral striatum. This review presents previous work by our laboratory [I. Mendez, M. Hong, Reconstruction of the striato-nigro-striatal circuitry by simultaneous double dopaminergic grafts: a tracer study using fluorogold and horseradish peroxidase, Brain Res. 778 (1997) 194-205; I. Mendez, D. Sadi, M. Hong., Reconstruction of the nigrostriatal pathway by simultaneous intrastriatal and intranigral dopaminergic transplants, J. Neurosci. 16 (1996) 7216-7227] using a new transplantation strategy aimed at restoring dopaminergic innervation of the nigra and striatum by simultaneous dopaminergic transplants placed in the substantia nigra and ipsilateral striatum (double grafts) in the 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned adult rat brain. These double grafts achieve not only greater striatal reinnervation than the standard intrastriatal grafts but also produce a faster and more complete behavioural recovery six weeks after transplantation. Injection of the retrograde tracer fluorogold into the striatum and nigra resulted in fluorescent labeled cells within the intranigral graft and the intrastriatal graft and surrounding striatum, respectively suggesting that these double grafts promote at least partial reconstruction of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway. This double graft strategy may have potential implications in clinical neural transplantation for Parkinson's disease.
authors.affiliation: Neural Transplantation Laboratory, Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. mendez@is.dal.ca
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mendez
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hong
mesh_terms: D000661:Amphetamine; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D016380:Brain Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000601:surgery*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000201:enzymology; D016627:Oxidopamine; D010302:Parkinson Disease, Secondary / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012399:Rotation; D013266:Stilbamidines; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000601:surgery*; D013565:Sympatholytics; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000032:analysis; D018998:Wheat Germ Agglutinin-Horseradish Peroxidase Conjugate
chemical_list: C049774:2-hydroxy-4,4'-diamidinostilbene, methanesulfonate salt; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D013266:Stilbamidines; D013565:Sympatholytics; D018998:Wheat Germ Agglutinin-Horseradish Peroxidase Conjugate; D016627:Oxidopamine; D000661:Amphetamine; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase