Survival and integration of transplanted postmitotic human neurons following experimental brain injury in immunocompetent rats

Abstract

Object. Limitations regarding cell homogeneity and survivability do not affect neuronlike hNT cells, which are derived from a human teratocarcinoma cell line (Ntera2) that differentiates into postmitotic neurons with exposure to retinoic acid. Because NT2N neurons survive longer than 1 year after transplantation into nude mice brains, the authors grafted these cells into the brains of immunocompetent rats following lateral fluid-percussion brain injury to determine the long-term survivability of NT2N cell grafts in cortices damaged by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the therapeutic effect of NT2N neurons on cognitive and motor deficits. Methods. Seventy-two adult male Sprague—Dawley rats, each weighing between 340 and 370 g, were given an anesthetic agent and subjected to lateral fluid percussion brain injury of moderate severity (2.2–2.5 atm in 46 rats) or to surgery without TBI (shamoperation, 26 rats). Twenty-four hours postinjury, 105 NT2N cells (24 injured animals) or 3 µl of vehicle (22 injured and...