Adrenal Medullary Autografts in Anterior Eye Chamber, Lateral Ventricle and Striatum of Adult Rats: A Long Term Study

Neural Plasticity, Jul 2018

The neurobiological basis for the short-term recovery in Parkinson's patients and experimental animals grafted with adrenal medulla is not yet clear. Structural details of the grafted chromaffin cells are also not available. In the present study, autografts of adrenal medulla in the anterior eye chamber, lateral ventricle and striatum of adult rats were studied for 360 days. Though a large number of cells degenerated, a few healthy chromaffin cells survived up to 360 days in the anterior eye chamber. In the ventricular and striatal regions, cells degenerated more rapidly, and a few surviving cells were seen only up to 120 and 150 days, respectively. Degeneration of the cells was evident from the alteration of the cytoplasmic granules, appearance of vacuoles and lysosomes, rapid decline in the number of TH and DBH positive cells and diffusion of enzymes in the intercellular region. Only lymphocytes and connective tissue cells were seen in the ventricle after 120 days, while outlines of a few chromaffin cells and background fluorescence were still evident in the striatum up to 150 days. In some of the intrastriatal transplants, morphologically identifiable Schwann cells were present and, in one transplant, there was evidence of myelination of axons by Schwann cells. These axons were obviously derived from the adjacent host tissue. From the findings it has been concluded that autografts of adrenal medulla survive for only a Limited period of time on transplantation to the central nervous system and anterior eye chamber. Survival seemed to be better in the anterior eye chamber than at the sites preferentially chosen for treating Parkinson's patients or experimental animals.

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Adrenal Medullary Autografts in Anterior Eye Chamber, Lateral Ventricle and Striatum of Adult Rats: A Long Term Study

JOURNAL OF NEURAL TRANSPLANTATION & PLASTICITY Adrenal Medullary Autografts in Anterior Eye Chamber, Lateral Ventricle and Striatum of Adult Rats: A Long Term Study Ashok Kumar Shetty 0 1 Gomathy Gopinath 0 1 P.N. Tandon 0 1 0 Reprint address: Professor Gomathy Gopinath Department 1 National Neural Transplant Unit, All India Institute SUMMARY The neurobiological basis for the short-term recovery in Parkinson's patients and experimental animals grafted with adrenal medulla is not yet clear. Structural details of the grafted chromaffin cells are also not available. In the present study, autografts of adrenal medulla in the anterior eye chamber, lateral ventricle and striatum of adult rats were studied for 360 days. Though a large number of cells degenerated, a few healthy chromaffin cells survived up to 360 days in the anterior eye chamber. In the ventricular and striatal regions, cells degenerated more rapidly, and a few surviving cells were seen only up to 120 and 150 days, respectively. Degeneration of the cells was evident from the alteration of the cytoplasmic granules, appearance of vacuoles and lysosomes, rapid decline in the number of TH and DBH positive cells and diffusion of enzymes in the intercellular region. Only lymphocytes and connective tissue cells were seen in the ventricle after 120 days, while outlines of a few chromaffin cells and background fluorescence were still evident in the striatum up to 150 days. In some of the intrastriatal transplants, morphologically identifiable Schwann cells were present and, in one transplant, there was evidence of myelination of axons by Schwann cells. These axons were obviously derived from the adjacent host tissue. From the findings it has been concluded that autografts of adrenal medulla survive for only a Hmited period of time on transplantation to the central nervous system and anterior eye chamber. Survival seemed to be better in the anterior eye chamber than at the sites preferentially chosen for treating Parkinson's patients or experimental animals. Adrenal medulla graft; Parkinson's disease; transplantation; anterior eye chamber; striatum; transplant morphology INTRODUCTION The chromaffin cells of adrenal medulla, known for producing dopamine as an intermediary in the synthetic pathway of epinephrine/19/, are used for grafting in rats and monkeys to reverse the deficits induced by cheInieal denervation of the striatum/3,9,10,12,20,25,26/. Results of these experiments prompted the use of adrenal medulla autografts in the treatment of Parkinson’s patients/2,16-18/. Only moderate recovery of short duration is reported so far in a small proportion of patients/15,16/. The neurobiological basis of such recovery is still unexplained. Survival of allografts of ehromaffin cells in the striatum of rats denervated chemically and amelioration of some of the deficits are reported in some studies by using fluorescence histoehemistry and immunolabelling/8,12/. Continued survival of grafted chromaffin cells was demonstrated by Stromberg et al. /25,26/ only by the infusing of NGF into the implant site. Hansen et al. /14/ reported complete degeneration of the autografted adrenal medullary cells by one month in Cebus monkeys treated with MPTP. A recent autopsy report also shows complete degeneration of the adrenal medullary autograft in a Parkinson’s patient/23L These reports have brought to light the necessity for a more detailed basic study than hitherto exists, on the transplanted adrenal medullary cells. Transplanted adrenal chromaffin cells grafted to the anterior chamber of the eye were shown to have achieved neuronal characteristics with their processes innervating co-grafted cerebral cortex /21,22/. Similar observations were also recorded in culture of chromaffin cells in the absence of corticosteroids /27-29/. The present study was undertaken to analyse the morphological details of the autografts of adrenal medulla in the anterior eye chamber, lateral ventricle and striatum. MATERIALS AND METHODS Adult Wistar rats of stock bred colony weighing 150 to 200 g were used in this study. The left adrenal gland, after removal from an anaesthetised (ketamine, 10mg/kg body weight) rat, was dissected to free the medulla from the cortex in sterile lactated Ringer’s solution under an operation microscope. Standard techniques were used to transplant the medullary grafts into the anterior eye chamber, lateral ventricle and striatum /4,5,11,21/. Behaviour and vascularisation of the intraoeular grafts were observed under an operation microscope. On 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 300 and 360 post-transplantation days, the rats were sacrificed and the transplants were processed for morphological and histochemical analysis. The number of transplants studed on each experimental day is listed in Table 1. Tissue preparation for light and microscopy electron After anaesthetising the animals, the intraocular grafts were rapidly dissected free from the host iris and were fixed (...truncated)


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Ashok Kumar Shetty, Gomathy Gopinath, P. N. Tandon. Adrenal Medullary Autografts in Anterior Eye Chamber, Lateral Ventricle and Striatum of Adult Rats: A Long Term Study, Neural Plasticity, 2, DOI: 10.1155/NP.1991.175