Repair of glutamate-induced excitotoxic neuronal damage mediated by intracerebroventricular transplantation of neural stem cells in adult mice.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate a possibility of repairing damaged brain by intracerebroventricular transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult mice subjected to glutamate-induced excitotoxic injury.


METHODS
Mouse NSCs were isolated from the brains of embryos at 15-day postcoitum (dpc). The expression of nestin, a special antigen for NSC, was detected by immunocytochemistry. Immunofluorescence staining was carried out to observe the survival and location of transplanted NSCs. The animals in the MSG + NSCs group received intracerebroventricular transplantation of NSCs (approximately 1.0 x 10(5) cells) separately on day 1 and day 10 after 10-d MSG exposure (4.0 g/kg per day). The mice in control and MSG groups received intracerebroventricular injection of Dulbecco's minimum essential medium (DMEM) instead of NSCs. On day 11 after the last NSC transplantation, the test of Y-maze discrimination learning was performed, and then the histopathology of the animal brains was studied to analyze the MSG-induced functional and morphological changes of brain and the effects of intracerebroventricular transplantation of NSCs on the brain repair.


RESULTS
The isolated cells were Nestin-positive. The grafted NSCs in the host brain were region-specifically survived at 10-d post-transplantation. Intracerebroventricular transplantation of NSCs obviously facilitated the brain recovery from glutamate-induced behavioral disturbances and histopathological impairs in adult mice.


CONCLUSIONS
Intracerebroventricular transplantation of NSCs may be feasible in repairing diseased or damaged brain tissue.
Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, China.
Juan
J
Ma
Li-Jian
LJ
Yu
Run-Di
RD
Ma
Yong-Ping
YP
Zhang
Juan-Zhi
JZ
Fang
Xiao-Yu
XY
Zhang
Ting-Xi
TX
Yu
D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000633:toxicity*; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular / Q000379:methods; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D064231:Nestin; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C577485:Nes protein, mouse; D064231:Nestin; D018698:Glutamic Acid