The use of adenoviral vectors and ex vivo transduced neurotransplants: Towards promotion of neuroregeneration

Regeneration of injured axons following injury depends on a delicate balanc e between growth-promoting and growth-inhibiting factors. Overexpression of neurotrophin genes seems a promising strategy to promote regeneration. Tro phic genes can be overexpressed at the site of injury at the axonal stumps, or at the perikaryal level of the injured neuron. Transduction of the neur al cells can be achieved by applying adenoviral vectors, either directly in vivo or-in the case of neurotransplantation-as an ex vivo approach. In bot h cases it would create a more permissive environment for axonal growth and therefore in functional regeneration. In this article, the feasibility of the use of adenoviral vectors in several neuroregeneration models-in partic ularly in spinal cord lesion models and the biological clock transplantatio n model-is illustrated. The results show that the adenoviral vectors can be a powerful tool to study the effects of overexpression of genes in an in v ivo paradigm of nerve regeneration or nerve outgrowth. The potential use of adenoviral vectors and ex vivo transduced neurotransplants is discussed.