MICROCARRIER ENHANCED SURVIVAL OF HUMAN AND RAT FETAL VENTRAL MESENCEPHALON CELLS IMPLANTED IN THE RAT STRIATUM

The transplantation of tissue containing dopamine-producing cells into the mammalian central nervous system is an emerging treatment for Par kinson's disease, despite relatively poor survival of implanted tissue . Recent evidence has suggested that Cytodex microcarriers enhance the survival of dopaminergic rat chromaffin cells transplanted into the r at striatum in the absence of immunosuppression. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the survival of rat and human fetal ventral me sencephalic neurons (VM) implanted alone or after attachment to microc arriers in the striatum of rats without immunosuppression. Rat fetal V M neurons demonstrated enhanced survival in the rat striatum when tran splanted on microcarriers, compared to their transplantation alone dur ing the 3-mo period examined in the present study. Transplants of huma n fetal VM neurons on microcarriers also survived remarkably well in t he rat striatum without systemic immunosuppression. In contrast, human fetal VM cells transplanted alone into the rat striatum did not survi ve without systemic immunosuppression. There was no evidence of TH fib er sprouting in the vicinity of any transplant site. These data indica ted that Cytodex microcarriers provide enhanced survival of both rat a llograft and human xenograft fetal mesencephalic cells in the rat stri atum without the necessity of systemic immunosuppression, perhaps by i nducing a unique neuron-glia environment. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science In c.