The density difference between tissue and neural probes is a key factor for glial scarring.

A key to successful chronic neural interfacing is to achieve minimal glial scarring surrounding the implants, as the astrocytes and microglia may functionally insulate the interface. A possible explanation for the development of these reactions is mechanical forces arising between the implants and the brain. Here, we show that the difference between the density of neural probes and that of the tissue, and the resulting inertial forces, are key factors for the development of the glial scar. Two probes of similar size, shape, surface structure and elastic modulus but differing greatly in density were implanted into the rat brain. After six weeks, significantly lower astrocytic and microglial reactions were found surrounding the low-density probes, approaching no reaction at all. This provides a major key to design fully biocompatible neural interfaces and a new platform for in vivo assays of tissue reactions to probes with differing materials, surface structures, and shapes

Size-dependent long-term tissue response to biostable nanowires in the brain

AbstractNanostructured neural interfaces, comprising nanotubes or nanowires, have the potential to overcome the present hurdles of achieving stable communication with neuronal networks for long periods of time. This would have a strong impact on brain research. However, little information is available on the brain response to implanted high-aspect-ratio nanoparticles, which share morphological similarities with asbestos fibres. Here, we investigated the glial response and neuronal loss in the rat brain after implantation of biostable and structurally controlled nanowires of different lengths for a period up to one year post-surgery. Our results show that, as for lung and abdominal tissue, the brain is subject to a sustained, local inflammation when biostable and high-aspect-ratio nanoparticles of 5 μm or longer are present in the brain tissue. In addition, a significant loss of neurons was observed adjacent to the 10 μm nanowires after one year. Notably, the inflammatory response was restricted to a narrow zone around the nanowires and did not escalate between 12 weeks and one year. Furthermore, 2 μm nanowires did not cause significant inflammatory response nor significant loss of neurons nearby. The present results provide key information for the design of future neural implants based on nanomaterials

Neuronal and glial differentiation of expanded neural stem and progenitor cells; in vitro and after transplantation.

In this thesis we have used cells dissected from the lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE), the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE), and the cortical primordium of the embryonic mouse forebrain. The tissue was dissected from either i) wild-type mice, ii) green fluorescent protein (GFP)-, or iii) Gtv-a-expressing transgenic mice, and subsequently grown and expanded in vitro using two different protocols. Cells were either plated and extensively expanded as attached glial cultures in the presence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and serum, or expanded in the presence of EGF and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) as free-floating aggregates termed neurospheres. The attached LGE-derived cells were expanded for more that 7 months (25 passages), and the cells expressed neural stem-/progenitor markers, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), nestin, RC2 and M2/M6, both at early and late passages. We demonstrated that the repeatedly passaged attached glial cultures derived from either the LGE or MGE (but not the cortical primordium) were capable of generating significant numbers of neurons and glial cells at differentiating conditions, i.e. after removal of EGF and serum from the expansion medium. By using a transgenic approach, we were able to show that at least a subset of the newly generated neurons and oligodendrocytes were derived from GFAP-expressing cells. Interestingly, the newly generated neurons were found to retain some of their region-specific expression even after extensive in vitro-expansion. After grafting of the expanded attached LGE-derived cells, we found that they were able to integrate into both the adult (intact and lesioned) and neonatal rat striatum, as visualized with the mouse-specific astroglial marker M2. However, even though these cells had the capacity to differentiate into neurons and glial cells in vitro, we were only able to detect few neuron-like cells after transplantation. Instead these cells expressed almost exclusively an astroglial phenotype after implantation. Moreover, we showed that cells from expanded neurosphere cultures, derived from the LGE, MGE and cortical primordium of the embryonic GFP-transgenic mouse, had the capacity to differentiate into morphologically fully mature neurons, as well as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes after transplantation, as visualized with the species-specific marker M2 and the reporter gene GFP. These results demonstrated the ability of mouse derived neural stem-/progenitor cells expanded in vitro as neurospheres to generate both neurons and glia after transplantation into neonatal recipients, and differentiate into mature neurons with morphological features characteristic for each target site. Altogether, the results of the present thesis demonstrate a capacity of cells derived from the mouse embryonic forebrain to be long-term expanded using two different protocols, and that the cells have the potential to differentiate in vitro and give rise to progeny with at least some region-specific characteristics retained. The cells can also survive and integrate into the host tissue after transplantation. However, mainly cells grown as neurospheres displayed the potential of neuronal differentiation after implantation into the neonatal graft host. A lot of experimental work is still needed in order to understand and control the mechanisms for growth and differentiation of neural stem-/progenitor cells before such cells can be applied in other studies, such as in clinical trials towards treatment of for example neurodegenerative disorders

Neuronal and glial differentiation within expanded glial cultures derived from the lateral and medial ganglionic eminences.

Attached glial-like cell cultures were established from the lateral and medial ganglionic eminences (LGE and MGE) and from the neocortex (Cx) of E13.5 mouse embryos, and expanded over four to five passages under epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulation. Following removal of EGF and serum, we analysed the generation of neurons and glial cells within the cultures. Significant numbers of βIII-tubulin-positive neurons were generated in both the LGE (about 7% of total cell numbers) and the MGE (around 2%). However, only few βIII-tubulin-positive cells with neuronal morphologies were detected in the differentiated Cx cultures. The newly formed neurons were to a large extent GABAergic, and many of the MGE-derived, but not the LGE-derived, cells expressed the MGE-marker NKX2.1. Most cells in all cultures still appeared astroglial-like, expressing glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), but in addition, CNPase-positive cells with oligodendroglial morphologies were present in the MGE (0.68%), and, to a lesser extent (0.2%), in the LGE cultures. The present results demonstrate that cells of expanded glial cultures from both the LGE and MGE can give rise to significant and, to a certain extent, region-specific neuronal and glial cell types under differentiating conditions

Can histology solve the riddle of non-functioning electrodes; factors influencing the biocompatibillity of brain machine interfaces.

Neural interfaces hold great promise to become invaluable clinical and diagnostic tools in the near future. However, the biocompatibility and the long-term stability of the implanted interfaces are far from optimized. There are several factors that need to be addressed and standardized when improving the long-term success of an implanted electrode. We have chosen to focus on three key factors when evaluating the evoked tissue responses after electrode implantation into the brain: implant size, fixation mode, and evaluation period. Further, we show results from an ultrathin multichannel wire electrode that has been implanted in the rat cerebral cortex for 1 year. To improve biocompatibility of implanted electrodes, we would like to suggest that free-floating, very small, flexible, and, in time, wireless electrodes would elicit a diminished cell encapsulation. We would also like to suggest standardized methods for the electrode design, the electrode implantation method, and the analyses of cell reactions after implantation into the CNS in order to improve the long-term success of implanted neural interfaces

Rat tooth pulp cells elicit neurite growth from trigeminal neurones and express mRNAs for neurotrophic factors in vitro

Molecular factors control the developmental ingrowth of axons to the tooth pulp. Here we examine the ability of pulpal cells to induce neurite outgrowth from neonatal rat trigeminal neurones (TGNs) in vitro. We found that TGNs emitted neurites and formed networks of branches in relation to pulpal cells. Neurones co-cultured with a mixture of pulpal cells and 3T3 fibroblasts formed networks exclusively in relation to the pulpal cells. Cultivated pulpal cells and pulpal tissue produced mRNAs for all neurotrophins and members of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor family. Hence, rat pulpal cells have neuritogenic effects on single TGNs in vitro, that may be associated with secretion of neurotrophic factors

Neuronal differentiation following transplantation of expanded mouse neurosphere cultures derived from different embryonic forebrain regions.

In vitro, expanded neurospheres exhibit multipotent properties and can differentiate into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. In vivo, cells from neurospheres derived from mouse fetal forebrain have previously been reported to predominantly differentiate into glial cells, and not into neurons. Here we isolated stem/progenitor cells from E13.5 lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE), medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) and cortical primordium, of a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-actin transgenic mouse. Free-floating neurospheres were expanded in the presence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and implanted after five to six passages into the striatum, hippocampus and cortex of neonatal rats. Cell suspensions of primary LGE tissue were prepared and grafted in parallel. Grafted cells derived from the primary tissue displayed widespread incorporation into all regions, as visualized with the mouse-specific antibody M2, or mouse satellite DNA in situ hybridization, and differentiated into both neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Grafts of neurosphere cells derived from the LGE, MGE and cortical primordium differentiated primarily into astrocytes, but contained low but significant numbers of GFP-immunoreactive neurons. Neurons derived from LGE neurospheres were of three types: cells with the morphology of medium-sized densely spiny projection neurons in the striatum; cells with interneuron-like morphologies in striatum, cortex and hippocampus; and cells integrating into SVZ and migrating along the RMS to the olfactory bulb. MGE- or cortical primordium-derived neurospheres differentiated into interneuron-like cells in both striatum and hippocampus. The results demonstrate the ability of in vitro expanded neural stem/progenitor cells to generate both neurons and glia after transplantation into neonatal recipients, and differentiate in a region-specific manner into mature neurons with morphological features characteristic for each target site

The influence of porous silicon on axonal outgrowth in vitro.

Axonal outgrowth on smooth and porous silicon surfaces was studied in organ culture. The pore size of the silicon substrata varied between 100 and 1500 nm. We found that axons preferred to grow and elongate on porous silicon surfaces only when pores of (150-500 nm) are available