Faculty Collaboration Database

Fetal hippocampal transplants attenuate CA3 pyramidal cell death resulting from fluid percussion brain injury in the rat. J Neurotrauma 1995 Dec;12(6):1059-67

Date

12/01/1995

Pubmed ID

8742134

DOI

10.1089/neu.1995.12.1059

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0029616086 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   46 Citations

Abstract

Transplantation of fetal neural tissue has been demonstrated to prevent neuronal loss in a number of CNS injury models including spinal cord contusion. However, no studies have examined the neuroprotective role of fetal transplants in models of traumatic brain injury. The present study examined the ability of fetal neural grafts to attenuate neuronal loss resulting from lateral fluid percussion (FP) brain injury in the rat. Lateral FP in the rat elicits a focal contusion within the parietal/temporal cortex and induces cell death in a subset of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons. To examine potential neuroprotective effects of fetal neural grafts, either E16 fetal hippocampus, E16 fetal cortex, or sterile lactated Ringers was stereotaxically transplanted directly into contused cortex 2 days after FP brain injury. The effects of fetal transplants upon adjacent injured hippocampal CA3 regions were then assessed at 4 weeks after grafting utilizing quantitative image analysis. Both fetal cortex and hippocampal grafts survived within contused cortex. Fetal hippocampal grafts significantly attenuated CA3 cell death resulting from lateral fluid percussion, while fetal cortical transplants induced a small, but nonsignificant, amelioration of CA3 pyramidal loss. Thus, neuroprotection by fetal grafts appeared to be tissue specific with hippocampal, but not cortical, fetal transplants significantly reducing posttraumatic CA3 loss. In summary, fetal neural transplantation can ameliorate hippocampal cell death following experimental brain injury.

Author List

Soares HD, Sinson GP, McIntosh TK

Author

Grant P. Sinson MD Associate Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Brain Injuries
Brain Tissue Transplantation
Cell Death
Disease Models, Animal
Fetal Tissue Transplantation
Hippocampus
Male
Pyramidal Cells
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley