Premium
Serotonergic cell transplant and cervical spinal cord injury
Author(s) -
Dougherty Brendan J.,
White Todd E.,
O'Steen Barbara E.,
Reier Paul J.,
Fuller David D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.784.4
Subject(s) - serotonergic , medicine , spinal cord injury , brainstem , spinal cord , anesthesia , ventilation (architecture) , serotonin , mechanical engineering , receptor , psychiatry , engineering
Phrenic motor recovery following cervical hemisection (HS) positively correlates with recovery of serotonergic input to ipsilateral phrenic motoneurons (PhrMNs). In preliminary studies, we are testing the hypothesis that respiratory motor recovery following HS can be enhanced by intraspinal grafting of embryonic (E14) brainstem tissue containing serotonergic (5‐HT) neurons or their precursors. E14 dorsal raphe nucleus tissue was placed into an acute C4HS cavity in adult male rats. At 8 weeks post‐surgery histological analysis showed that donor tissue filled the cavity and robust 5‐HT immunostaining was seen in the ipsilateral spinal cord rostral and caudal to the graft. Ventilation was assessed in conscious rats with plethysmography. Normoxic breathing patterns were similar between control (C4HS only) and transplant animals. However, during hypoxic challenge (10% O2) graft rats had increased frequency and minute ventilation (both p=0.01) compared to controls. Although additional control experiments are needed to determine if graft effects are specific to DRN tissue (vs. a non‐specific effect of embryonic tissue), these preliminary findings suggest that neurotransplantation may be a viable strategy for promoting respiratory motor recovery by enhancing serotonergic innervation of PhMNs. Funding: NIH 1R01HD052682‐01A1 (DDF), NIH RO1 NS054025 (PJR), NIH T32 HD043730 (BJD)