Long-term hibernation of human fetal striatal tissue does not adversely affect its differentiation in vitro or graft survival: implications for clinical trials in Huntington's disease.
Transplantation of human fetal CNS tissue is a promising therapy for neurodegenerative conditions such as Huntington's disease (HD), but its widespread adoption is limited by restricted tissue availability. One method of overcoming this problem would be to store the tissue in hibernation medium, an approach that we reported previously for human fetal striatal tissue stored for up to 24 h. We now demonstrate the feasibility of storing such tissue for up to 8 days in hibernation medium. When either fresh or 8-day hibernated striatal cells were cultured under standard conditions for 4 days, the proportion of DARPP-32-positive neurons did not differ significantly, although the total number of cells was significantly less from tissue that had been hibernated. Six weeks after transplantation into cyclosporin A-immunosuppressed unilateral quinolinic acid-lesioned rats, there was no significant difference between fresh and hibernated grafts, both in terms of graft volume and extent of striatal phenotypic markers. This study therefore clearly demonstrates that hibernation of human fetal striatal tissue for up to 8 days is not deleterious to its differentiation in culture or survival following transplantation, and is therefore an appropriate method of storage for this tissue.
Hurelbrink
Carrie B
CB
Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 2PY, UK. cbh20@cam.ac.uk
Tyers
Pam
P
Armstrong
Richard J E
RJ
Dunnett
Stephen B
SB
Barker
Roger A
RA
Rosser
Anne E
AE
D000818:Animals; D016380:Brain Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000601:surgery; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000196:embryology / Q000637:transplantation*; D009474:Neurons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D014021:Tissue Preservation / Q000379:methods*