title: A new and safe method for stereotactically harvesting neural stem/progenitor cells from the adult rat subventricular zone.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adult neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) are one of the outstanding cell sources for therapeutic purposes in the central nervous system diseases. Autologous transplantation of NS/PCs still is a matter of controversy due to the safety issue as well as efficiency of harvesting these cells from the live mammalian brain subventricular zone (SVZ).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this new and safe method, a 16-guage semi-automatic biopsy needle was used stereotactically to remove a piece of SVZ. Then, the proliferation and differentiation capacity of obtained cells were assessed. In addition, the safety of the biopsy procedure was analyzed employing the Morris water maze, modified neurologic severity score, passive avoidance and open field tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Despite being very small in size, the SVZ specimen could generate a large number of progeny with the ability to differentiate into neuronal and glial cells. The biopsy procedure introduced in this study did not have any impact on the behavioral and neurological processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  existing SVZ biopsy methods were uncontrollable techniques which harvested brain tissue by aspiration using a syringe not a semi-automatic biopsy needle. Also, previous methods were not evaluated in terms of behavior and cognition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed a considerable safety and efficacy for the stereotactical removal of the adult rat SVZ to harvest NS/PCs for autologous transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Shefa Neuroscience Research Center, Khatam-al-Anbia Hospital, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aligholi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: hassanzadeh@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hassanzadeh
authors.affiliation: Neural Stem Cell & Regenerative Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Shiraz, Iran; Shiraz Stem Cell Institute, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Azari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Mahdi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rezayat
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahram Ejtemaei
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Mehr
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akbari
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Shefa Neuroscience Research Center, Khatam-al-Anbia Hospital, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Attari
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khaksarian
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Research Center, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Robert-Koch-Strasse 27a, 48149 Münster, Germany; Department of Neurosurgery and Neurology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Robert-Koch-Strasse 27a, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gorji
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D020547:Lateral Ventricles / Q000166:cytology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D058953:Neural Stem Cells; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques
keywords: Adult neural stem cells; Autologous transplantation; Rat; Subventricular zone biopsy