Article abstract
Nature Neuroscience 10, 1294 - 1299 (2007)
Published online: 2 September 2007 | doi:10.1038/nn1970
Reestablishment of damaged adult motor pathways by grafted embryonic cortical neurons
Afsaneh Gaillard1, Laetitia Prestoz1, Brigitte Dumartin2, Anne Cantereau1, Franck Morel3, Michel Roger1 & Mohamed Jaber1
Abstract
Damage to the adult motor cortex leads to severe and frequently irreversible deficits in motor function. Transplantation of embryonic cortical neurons into the damaged adult motor cortex was previously shown to induce partial recovery, but reports on graft efferents have varied from no efferent projections to sparse innervation. Here, we grafted embryonic cortical tissue from transgenic mice overexpressing a green fluorescent protein into the damaged motor cortex of adult mice. Grafted neurons developed efferent projections to appropriate cortical and subcortical host targets, including the thalamus and spinal cord. These projections were not a result of cell fusion between the transplant and the host neurons. Host and transplanted neurons formed synaptic contacts and numerous graft efferents were myelinated. These findings demonstrate that there is substantial anatomical reestablishment of cortical circuitry following embryonic cortex grafting into the adult brain. They suggest that there is an unsuspected potential for neural cell transplantation to promote reconstruction after brain injury.
- Institut de Physiologie et Biologie Cellulaires, Université de Poitiers, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 40 avenue du recteur Pineau, Poitiers, F-86022, France.
- Laboratoire Mouvement-Adaptation-Cognition, Université de Bordeaux II, CNRS, 146 rue Leo Saignat, Bordeaux, F-33077, France.
- Laboratoire Cytokines et Inflammation, Université de Poitiers, EA 3806, 40 avenue du recteur Pineau, Poitiers, F-86022, France.
Correspondence to: Afsaneh Gaillard1 e-mail: Afsaneh.Gaillard@univ-poitiers.fr
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