Skip to main content
Log in

Brain tissue transplantation in neonatal rats prevents a lesion-induced syndrome of adipsia, aphagia and akinesia

  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Previous experiments have proven brain tissue transplantation effective in reversing lesioninduced behavioral deficits in mature rats. This study reversed the usual experimental paradigm, so that fetal substantia nigra was transplanted into intact neonatal rats and allowed to mature in the host brain. Upon maturation substantia nigra lesions were made bilaterally to reveal the functional contribution of the transplanted tissue. In control animals these lesions depleted striatal dopamine, producing rigidity, poverty of movement and abnormal posture comparable to Parkinson's disease in the human; cessation of feeding and drinking led to progressive weight loss and death. In contrast, fetal substantia nigra transplanted into the neonatal rat became well-integrated in the host brain and was shown to protect the animal from this syndrome produced by subsequent substantia nigra lesions. We suggest that transplantation in these neonatal rats was performed during a crucial period of synaptogenesis, an environment particularly favorable to host-transplant interaction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anand BK, Brobeck JR (1951) Hypothalamic control of food intake. Yale J Biol Med 24: 123–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Björklund A, Dunnett SB, Stenevi U, Lewis ME, Iverson SD (1980) Reinnervation of the denervated striatum by substantia nigra transplants: functional consequences as revealed by pharmacological and sensorimotor testing. Brain Res 199: 307–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowan WM, Fawcett JW, O'Leary DDM, Stanfield BB (1984) Regressive events in neurogenesis. Science 225: 1258–1265

    Google Scholar 

  • De La Torre JC (1980) An improved approach to histofluorescence using the SPG method for tissue monoamines. J Neurosci Meth 3: 1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunnett SB, Björklund A, Stenevi U, Iverson SD (1981a) Grafts of embryonic substanatia nigra reinnervating the ventrolateral striatum ameliorate sensorimotor impairments and akinesia in rats with 6-OHDA lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway. Brain Res 229: 209–217

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunnett SB, Björklund A, Stenevi U, Iverson SD (1981b) Behavioral recovery following transplantation of substantia nigra in rats subjected to 6-OHDA lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway. II. Bilateral lesions. Brain Res 229: 457–470

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunnett SB, Björklund A, Stenevi U, Iverson SD (1983) Intracerebral grafting of neuronal cell suspensions. V. Behavioral recovery in rats with bilateral 6-OHDA lesions following implantation of nigral cell suspensions. Acta Physiol Scand S522: 39–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Fibiger HC, Zis AP, McGeer EG (1973) Feeding and drinking deficits after 6-hydroxydopamine administration in the rat: similarities to the lateral hypothalamic syndrome. Brain Res 55: 135–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Freed WJ, Perlow MJ, Karoum F, Seiger A, Olson L, Hoffer BJ, Wyatt RJ (1980) Restoration of dopaminergic function by grafting of fetal rat substantia nigra to the caudate nucleus: long-term behavioral, biochemical, and histochemical studies. Ann Neurol 8: 510–519

    Google Scholar 

  • Freed WJ (1984) Transplantation of catecholamine-containing tissues to restore the functional capacity of the damaged nigrostriatal system. In: Sladek JR, Gash DM (eds) Neural transplants. Plenum Publishing Corp, New York, pp 373–406

    Google Scholar 

  • Freed WJ (1985) Transplantation of tissues to the cerebral ventricles: methodological details and rate of graft survival. In:Björklund A, Stenevi U (eds) Neural grafting in the mammalian CNS. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, pp 31–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Golden GS (1972) Embryologic demonstration of a nigro-striatal projection in the mouse. Brain Res 44: 278–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Loizou L (1972) The postnatal ontogeny of monoamine-containing neurones in the central nervous system of the albino rat. Brain Res 40: 395–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall JF, Richardson JS, Teitelbaum P (1974) Nigrostriatal bundle damage and the lateral hypothalamic syndrome. J Comp Physiol Psychol 87: 808–830

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson L, Seiger A (1972) Brain tissue transplanted to the anterior chamber of the eye. I. Fluorescence histochemistry of immature catecholamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine neurons reinnervating the rat iris. Z Zellforsch Mikrosk Anat 135: 175–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson L, Seiger A, Fuxe K (1972) Heterogeneity of striatal and limbic dopamine innervation: highly fluorescent islands in developing and adult rats. Brain Res 44: 283–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlow MJ, Freed WJ, Hoffer BJ, Seiger A, Olson L, Wyatt RJ (1979) Brain grafts reduce motor abnormalities produced by destruction of nigrostriatal dopamine system. Science 204: 643–647

    Google Scholar 

  • Prochiantz A, Daguet M-C, Herbet A, Glowinski J (1981) Specific stimulation of in vitro maturation of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurones by striatal membranes. Nature 293: 570–572

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberger LA (1974) Immunocytochemistry. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Teitelbaum P, Epstein AN (1962) The lateral hypothalamic syndrome. Psychol Rev 69: 74–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Ungerstedt U (1971) Adipsia and aphagia after 6-hydroxydopamine induced degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine system. Acta Physiol Scand S367: 95–122

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schwarz, S.S., Freed, W.J. Brain tissue transplantation in neonatal rats prevents a lesion-induced syndrome of adipsia, aphagia and akinesia. Exp Brain Res 65, 449–454 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236318

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236318

Key words

Navigation