Migration of cultured fetal spinal cord astrocytes into adult host cervical cord and medulla following transplantation into thoracie spinal cord

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Abstract
Cell suspensions from 14-days-gestation rat spinal cord, which had previously been soaked for 1 hr in a 2 μg/ml solution of Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHAL), were cultured on collagen gels containing laminin for 2 weeks. Pieces of the gel and attached cells were then transplanted into the dorsal column of adult host thoracic spinal cord. At 1, 2, and 3 months postimplantation (MPI), animals were sacrificed, and the spinal cords were removed, embaedded in paraffin, and sectioned at 8 μm for immunohistochemistry at the light microscopic level. Sections were double labeled for PHAL and utilized as a marker for transplant-derived cells and glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP), a specific marker for astrocytes. Trnasplant-derived astorcytes (PHAL-GFAP positive cells) migrated from the transplantation site in both rostral and caudal directions and were observed within the host dorsal column ipsilateral to the transplantation site. At 2 months, latera migration into the contralateral dorsal coumn and ipsilateral dorsal horn was observed. At 3 MPI transplant-derived astrocytes were observed in host medulla (nucleus gracilis). Transplant-derived astrocytes were also observed on the glial limitans as far as nucleus gracilis. A migration rate of 0.72 mm/day was calculated, assuming a 14-day delay in the initiation of migration. The ramifications of such extensive migration are discussed with regard to return of function and amelioration of lesion-induced deficits.