Transplants of syngeneic adult dorsal root ganglion neurons to the spinal cord of rats with acute traumatic paraplegia: morphological analyses

Abstract

Neurons and non-neuronal cells were harvested from adult rat dorsal root ganglia and transplanted to syngeneic adult rat spinal cord. Transplants were performed in intact rats and after acute traumatic paraplegia induced by inflation of a subdural microballoon. Only the first histopathological results are presented here. Transplants were well tolerated and fused with the surrounding host tissue. Survival of neurons within the grafts appeared better in the injured cords than in the intact ones. Some of them expressed neuropeptides known to be present in DRG in situ. Few interactions were found with morphological methods between the transplants and the host spinal cord. Some peptidergic fibers were seen crossing the graft-host interface; most fibers probably originated from host spinal fiber systems. The perspectives and limitations of the presently described type of spinal transplantation are discussed.