HEMATOPOIETIC-CELL TRANSPLANTATION IN FETAL LAMBS WITH CEROID-LIPOFUSCINOSIS

Hematopoietic cells from the liver of normal 45-48-day-old fetal lambs (Hb type AA) were transplanted intraperitoneally into 58-60-day-old r ecipient fetuses (Hb type BB). The recipient fetuses resulted from mat ing homozygous ceroid lipofuscinosis affected males with heterozygous, phenotypically normal, females, The sex of the donor fetus was also r ecorded, At age 2 1/2 months the recipient lambs with ceroid-lipofusci nosis were diagnosed by histopathology of brain biopsies, Monitoring o f blood and bone marrow cells showed that an average of 9% of blood ce lls in ceroid-lipofuscinosis affected recipients were of donor origin, No differences were evident in the clinical course of disease, brain weight, or histopathology of organs between transplanted and non-trans planted lambs with ceroid-lipofuscinosis. Under the conditions of this experiment, transplantation of fetal hematopoietic cells was not bene ficial. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.