GRAFTING OF DOPAMINERGIC VENTRAL MESENCEPHALIC SLICE CULTURES TO THE STRIATUM OF ADULT-RATS

Live storage of dopaminergic neurons before intracerebral grafting wil l allow pregrafting examination and manipulation of the cells, as well as pooling and mixing of cells from several donors. In this study we examined whether mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons, grown in organoty pic cultures for 1 week, would survive subsequent grafting to the adul t rat striatum. Slices of ventral mesencephalon from neonatal rats wer e grown by the Roller drum method for 1 week and then grafted into the striatum of adult rats, with and without preceding 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of their nigrostriatal pathway. Using immunocytochemical stain ing for tyrosine hydroxylase, cultured dopaminergic neurons were found to survive and to extend fibers into the host striatum when examined 4, 7, 14, 28, and 87 days after grafting. When compared with slices of noncultured mesencephalic tissue from 1-week-old rats the slice cultu re period did not significantly reduce the number of surviving tyrosin e hydroxylase positive neurons, From this we conclude that slice cultu res can be used for transient storage of dopaminergic donor tis sue be fore intracerebral grafting. The surviving tyrosine hydroxylase positi ve neurons in control grafts from 1-week-old rats, furthermore, extend s the time frame of possible donor ages used for grafting. (C) 1994 Ac ademic Press, Inc.