Dissociated cells and piece of VM tissue improve rotation bias in unilaterally 6-OHDA lesioned rats.

<p>Net ipsilateral rotation scores of animals pre-transplantation (Pre), and 4 and 6 weeks after transplantation of dissociated cells from, or an intact piece of, half an E13 VM versus controls (lesion alone). Data are shown as group mean rotations of control (diamonds), cell transplanted (squares), and whole tissue transplanted (triangle) animals, with bars above and below each data point indicating the ± SEM. Though both groups of animals receiving either transplants of dissociated VM cells (squares) or intact pieces of VM tissue (triangles) recovered some rotational symmetry, animals receiving transplants of pieces of VM tissue continued to improve after 4 weeks post-transplantation to nearly zero rotations per minute by 6 weeks post-transplantation.</p

Animals receiving whole tissue transplants display a correlation between dopamine cell numbers and rotation bias.

<p>Each data point represents the number of TH+ cells from a single host (y-axis) versus their rotation score (x-axis). Note (A) how there is no correlation between the number of TH+ cells in dissociated cells transplants and their rotation scores (r² = 0.0006), while there is (B) a significant inverse correlation between the number of TH+ cells and ipsilateral rotation in animals receiving transplants of intact pieces of VM tissue (r² = 0.306; p = 0.04).</p

Dissociated cell and whole tissue transplants contain TH+ cells projecting neuritis into the host striatum.

<p>Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) staining of coronal sections through transplants of dissociated cells (A–C), or intact pieces of tissue (D–F) from one half of an E13 VM. (A and D) Transplants (arrowheads) were placed centrally in the 6-OHDA denervated striatum of lesion rats. (B and E) Numerous TH+ cell bodies could be seen situated within grafts of either dissociated cells (B) and whole tissue (E), with a halo (arrow heads) of diffuse TH+ cell fibers distributed throughout much of the surrounding host striatum. (C and F) High power images show varied TH+ cell profiles (arrows) throughout both types of grafts, and large, tapering TH+ processes innervating the surrounding host parenchyma (arrow heads). Scale bar for D shown in A, for E shown in B, and for F shown in C.</p

The number of TH+ cells was greater in animals receiving pieces of E13 VM tissue.

<p>After Ambercrombie correction, the total number of TH+ cells in animals receiving dissociated cells from the E13 VM averaged 1290 (+/−159) per transplant. In comparison, grafts of pieces of VM tissue contained significantly greater numbers of TH+ cells 2543 (+/−142; p = 0.003) 6 weeks after transplantation.</p