Cultured human embryonic neocortical cells survive and grow in infarcted cavities of adult rat brains and interconnect with host brain.

Background: There are no reports on exnografting cultured human fetal neocortical cells in this infracted cavities of adult rat brains. This study was undertaken to observe whether cultured human cortical neurons and astrocytes can survive and grow in the infarcted cavities of adult rat brains and whether they interconnect with host brains.
Methods: The right middle cerebral artery was ligated distal to the striatal branches in 16 adult stroke-prone renovascular hypertensive rats. One week later, cultured cells from human embryonic cerebral cortexes were stereotaxically transferred to the infarcted cavity of 11 rats. The other 5 rats receiving sham transplants served as controls. For immunosuppression, all transplanted rats received intraperitoneal injection of cyclosporine A daily starting on the day of grafting. Immunohistochemistry for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), synaptophysin, neurofilament, and microtubule associated protein-2 (MAP-2) was performed on brain sections perfused in situ 8 weeks after transplantation.
Results: Grafts in the infarcted cavities of 6 of 10 surviving rats consisted of bands of neurons with an immature appearance, bundles of fibers, and GFAP-immunopositive astrocytes, which were unevenly distributed. The grafts were rich in synaptophysin, neurofilament, and MAP2-positive neurons with long processes. The graft/host border was diffuse with dendrites apparently bridging over to the host brain, into which neurofilament immunopositive fibers protruded.
Conclusion: Cultured human fetal brain cells can survive and grow in the infarcted cavities of immunodepressed rats and integrate with the host brain.