TESTIS-DERIVED SERTOLI CELLS SURVIVE AND PROVIDE LOCALIZED IMMUNOPROTECTION FOR XENOGRAFTS IN RAT-BRAIN

Transplantation of neural tissue into the mammalian central nervous sy stem has become an alternative treatment for neurodegenerative disorde rs such as Parkinson's disease. Logistical and ethical problems in the clinical use of human fetal neural grafts as a source of dopamine for Parkinson's disease patients has hastened a search for successful way s to use animal dopaminergic cells for human transplantation. The pres ent study demonstrates that transplanted testis-derived Sertoli cells into adult rat brains survive. Furthermore, when cotransplanted with b ovine adrenal chromaffin cells (xenograft), Sertoli cells produce loca lized immunoprotection, suppress microglial response and allow the bov ine cells to survive in the rat brain without continuous systemic immu nosuppressive drugs. These novel features support Sertoli cells as a v iable graft source for facilitating the use of xenotransplantation for Parkinson's disease and suggest their use as facilitators (i.e., loca lized immunosuppression) for cell transplantation in general.