title: Neural progenitor cells enhance the survival and axonal regeneration of injured motoneurons after transplantation into the avulsed ventral horn of adult rats.
abstract: In the present study, we transplanted E13.5 spinal cord-derived neural progenitor cells (NPCs) into the acutely avulsed ventral horn of adult rats. The results showed that NPCs survived and integrated nicely within the host ventral horn at 6 weeks post-grafting. Although the majority of grafted NPCs differentiated into astrocytes and only a small proportion into neuronal cells, interestingly, grafted NPCs in the avulsed ventral horn significantly enhanced the survival of injured motoneurons and promoted their regeneration into a peripheral nerve (PN) graft, as revealed by retrograde FluoroGold (FG) labeling. Specific ELISAs, Western blotting, and quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) demonstrated that NPCs produced nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and glial cell line-derived neutrophilic factor (GDNF), both in vitro and after transplantation in vivo. These results indicate that NPCs have beneficial effects on the survival and axonal regeneration of avulsion-injured motoneurons after transplantation. Such beneficial effects are possibly due to their inherent ability to secrete various trophic factors after transplantation in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong , Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Huanxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Wenming
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jiasong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Anchen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Qiuju
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Wutian
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology; D016472:Motor Neuron Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation; D011843:Radiculopathy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D055647:Rats, Transgenic; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D016378:Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors