GRAFTING OF FAST BLUE LABELED GLIAL-CELLS INTO NEONATAL RAT-BRAIN - DIFFERENTIAL SURVIVAL AND MIGRATION AMONG CELL-TYPES

Cultures of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, ERD 1.1 cells. a nontran sformed immortalized cell line of oligodendrocyte progenitors and C6 g lioma cells were labeled with the fluorescent dye Fast Blue and transp lanted into brains of 4 day postnatal Wistar rat pups. The localizatio n of fluorescent cells within host brain was examined at various times post-transplantation to determine patterns of cell migration as well as survival and integration among the host tissue. Oligodendrocyte pro genitors migrated mainly along white matter tracks, integrating succes sfully into the host parenchyma. High survival rates were found betwee n 5 and 27 days post grafting. ERD 1.1 cells survived and migrated bet ween 1 and 5 days after transplantation. However, by 27 days survival had dropped from 60 to 20% of the initial cell population. The survivi ng cells were mainly localized to subventricular and subependymal regi ons at 27 days. C6 cells migrated extensively rostrally and caudally f rom the site of injection in the hippocampus and were tumorogenic. Thi s finding confirmed previous reports on the survival and migration pat terns of oligodendrocyte progenitors grafted into neonatal brain. Howe ver, they show that two cell lines that share phenotypic properties of oligodendrocyte progenitors markedly differ from these cells with res pect to migration patterns and integration within host parenchyma. Fas t Blue dye was still detectable after repeated cell division in grafte d C6 cells, enabling us to track single cells as well as tumor formati on. This dye should be useful not only to address issues of developmen t, but also of tumor biology and therapeutic treatment.