Transplantation site influences the phenotypic differentiation of dopamine neurons in ventral mesencephalic grafts in Parkinsonian rats.

Transplantation site influences the phenotypic differentiation of dopamine neurons in ventral mesencephalic grafts in Parkinsonian rats. Exp Neurol. 2017 Jan 25;: Authors: Fjodorova M, Torres EM, Dunnett SB Abstract Foetal midbrain progenitors have been shown to survive, give rise to different classes of dopamine neurons and integrate into the host brain alleviating Parkinsonian symptoms following transplantation in patients and animal models of the disease. Dopamine neuron subpopulations in the midbrain, namely A9 and A10, can be identified anatomically based on cell morphology and ascending axonal projections. G protein-gated inwardly rectifying potassium channel Girk2 and the calcium binding protein Calbindin are the two best available histochemical markers currently used to label (with some overlap) A9- and A10-like dopamine neuron subtypes, respectively, in tyrosine hydroxylase expressing neurons both in the midbrain and grafts. Both classes of dopamine neurons survive in grafts in the striatum and extend axonal projections to their normal dorsal and ventral striatal targets depending on phenotype. Nevertheless, grafts transplanted into the dorsal striatum, which is an A9 input nucleus, are enriched for dopamine neurons that express Girk2. It remains to be elucidated whether different transplantation sites favour the differential survival and/or development of concordant dopamine neuron subtypes within the grafts. Here we used r...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Exp Neurol Source Type: research