Injured adult motor and sensory axons regenerate into appropriate organotypic domains of neural progenitor grafts.

ABSTRACT: Neural progenitor cell (NPC) transplantation has high therapeutic potential in neurological disorders. Functional restoration may depend on the formation of reciprocal connections between host and graft. While it has been reported that axons extending out of neural grafts in the brain form contacts onto phenotypically appropriate host target regions, it is not known whether adult, injured host axons regenerating into NPC grafts also form appropriate connections. We report that spinal cord NPCs grafted into the injured adult rat spinal cord self-assemble organotypic, dorsal horn-like domains. These clusters are extensively innervated by regenerating adult host sensory axons and are avoided by corticospinal axons. Moreover, host axon regeneration into grafts increases significantly after enr

SUBMITTER: Dulin JN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5758751 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature